India were completely dominated on Day 4 of the second Test against England. Captain Shubman Gill led from the front, scoring another big hundred and breaking several records. By the end of the day, India had set England a huge target and taken early wickets, putting themselves in a strong position to win.
India began the day at 64 runs for 1 wicket in their second innings. They already had a lead of 244 runs. morning, England’s bowlers Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse. They managed to get both overnight batters out.
But then captain Shubman Gill came to the crease. He had already scored a brilliant 269 in the first innings and looked very confident. He was joined by the attacking wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. Pant started aggressively from the moment he came in. He hit a boundary off his third ball and even smashed a six. He also got lucky when Zak Crawley dropped a simple catch at mid-off when Pant was on just 8 runs.
Pant made England pay for that mistake. He kept attacking the bowlers Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir and raced to 30 runs from just 18 balls. Meanwhile, Gill also started scoring freely. By first session, India were 177/3, leading by 357 runs.
After lunch, both batters batted with even more aggression. They quickly pushed India’s lead past 400 runs. Gill brought up his half-century from 57 balls. Pant scored his fifty from 48 balls. They did partnership 101 runs in 71 balls. Pant eventually fell for 65 (58 balls), caught at long-off while trying to hit Bashir for another six.
After Pant’s wicket, Gill slowed down and focused on building the lead with Ravindra Jadeja. He batted sensibly and scored another hundred, making him one of the few players to score both a double century and a century in the same Test.
As the lead went past 500, there was talk that India would declare. But Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir chose to keep batting, knowing England’s recent struggles with big chases. Gill was allowed to keep scoring and another record was broken by him: he became the first batter ever to have both a double century and a 150 in the same Test match.
Gill made 161, having been caught and bowled by Shoaib Bashir. After that, India declared with their lead over 600 runs, setting England a target of 608 to win.
When England came out to bat, Ben Duckett attacked from the start. He hit Mohammed Siraj for consecutive boundaries. But Siraj came back well, dismissing Zak Crawley for a duck (caught at backward point).
Duckett kept attacking but was bowled by Akash Deep with a beautiful delivery. Akash Deep then produced the ball of the day to get Joe Root out for just 6 runs, leaving England in big trouble.
India’s dominant batting and the early wickets by the bowlers have put them in a perfect position to finish the match on Day 5. They will be confident of taking the remaining seven wickets and sealing the win.
