England face uphill task to save Test as Gill hits 2nd ton in match

India captain Shubman Gill became the first batsman in Test history to make scores of 250 and 150 in the same match before Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep again struck with the new ball as the tourists pressed for a series-levelling win at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Gill followed his first-innings 267 in the second Test with another superb knock of 161 off just 162 balls.

He eventually declared India’s second innings on 427-6 after tea on the fourth day.

That left England needing a mammoth 608 runs to go 2-0 up in this five-match series.

No side in 148 years of Test cricket have made more to win in the fourth innings than the West Indies’ 418 against Australia at St John’s in 2003.

England’s corresponding record is the 378 they made against India at Edgbaston three years ago.

But at Saturday’s close in Birmingham they were 72-3, needing a further 536 runs on the final day to achieve a win that would be remarkable even in their current ‘Bazball’ era of aggressive batting.

But Harry Brook, who helped keep England afloat in the first innings with 158 in a total of 407, was still there on 15 not out.

Siraj, who led India’s attack with 6-70 in the first innings, struck an early blow Saturday when he removed Zak Crawley for a duck as a loose drive went straight to backward point.

Deep, given the unenviable task of replacing Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s number one ranked fast bowler, then carried on from his four-wicket haul first-time around by bowling left-hander Ben Duckett (25) with a nip-back ball.

He then clean bowled Joe Root for just six as the world’s number one-ranked Test batsman was undone by a superb full-length ball that moved away late.

Earlier, by taking his tally in this match to 430 runs, the 25-year-old Gill became only the fifth batsman to score 400 or more runs in a single Test.

Gill, thrust into the captaincy following Rohit Sharma’s shock retirement from Test duty in May, has scored three hundreds in his first four innings as skipper following his 147 during India’s defeat in the first Test at Headingley.

He was ably assisted earlier Saturday by Rishabh Pant, who made England pay dearly for dropping him twice, including a poor miss by Crawley at mid-off when the wicketkeeper had made just 10.

Pant cashed in with a typically dashing 65 during a fourth-wicket partnership of 110 in just 103 balls with his skipper.

But Gill, often a classical stylist, showed he could bat just as aggressively as Pant by hitting fast bowler Josh Tongue for three consecutive boundaries, with a superb hooked six followed by a swiped four over mid-on and a scorching pull that England captain Ben Stokes could not stop.

Gill, batting in the number four slot previously occupied by India star Virat Kohli, who retired just days after Rohit, hooked another six off Tongue.

Pant’s dashing display ended when, trying to smash off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, he lost control of his bat, which flew to midwicket while the ball went to deep mid-off -- where Duckett made no mistake with the catch.

Pant faced just 58 balls, including eight fours and three sixes.

After tea, Gill piled on the runs with a brilliant straight six and two fours off consecutive balls from Chris Woakes, before slog-sweeping part-time off-spinner Root for six to go to 150 in superb style.

There was a comical moment next ball when Ollie Pope, with sunglasses on top of his cap rather than over his eyes, lost sight of a chance in the deep.

Gill’s brilliant display finally ended when he spooned a simple return catch to Bashir, having hit 13 fours and eight sixes in his latest masterclass.

There were crowd chants of “Boring, boring India” as the tourists batted on before Gill finally called a halt, with Ravindra Jadeja 69 not out.

Agencies