DHARAMSHALA: England mounted a comeback in the final session of the second day with a clinical bowling performance, but India’s resilient tail end kept the hosts in front in the final Test at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.
At the end of the day’s play, India posted a total of 473/8 on the board, leading by 255 runs with Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah unbeaten with scores of 2 7(55) and 19 (55) respectively.
Shoaib Bashir lifted England’s spirits by removing set batter Sarfaraz Khan (56) with his off-spin on the first ball of the final session. Devdutt Padikkal, on the other end, went on to raise his bat after completing his maiden Test 50 and received thunderous applause from the dressing room as well as the crowd.
India crossed the 400-run mark in the 91st over and looked unfazed in the following overs. The Somerset spinner managed to find a breakthrough by getting better of Padkikkal (65) with extra bounce and sharp spinning delivery.
Dhruv Jurel came in looking to stitch up a partnership alongside Ravindra Jadeja. The pair managed to survive for the next seven overs before India lost a flurry of wickets. Bashir struck once again and removed Jurel (15). The young batter’s dismissal opened the gates for a comeback as India ended up losing Jadeja (15) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0) in a span of two overs.
Kuldeep and Bumrah put up an unbeaten 45-run stand to once again push England’s back against the wall. Kuldeep relied heavily on sweep shots to survive England’s high-flying spin bowling unit, while Bumrah executed the late cut to deal with the balls that spun away from him.
The ‘Chinaman’ spinner perfectly timed his shots to keep the scoreboard ticking while Bumrah adopted a cautious approach and picked his moments to rotate the strike.
Earlier in the day, India resumed the post-lunch session from 264/1 with Rohit (102) and Gill (101) unbeaten on the crease. Both batters were able to add nine runs before Rohit’s defence was breached by his counterpart Ben Stokes after scoring 103 runs.
At the score of 279, England’s veteran pacer James Anderson grabbed his 699th Test wicket as he dismissed Gill for 110 runs which was laced with 12 boundaries and five sixes.
In the first session, India resumed Day 2 from 135/1 with Rohit (52) and Gill (26) unbeaten on the crease. Both the batters completed the 50-run partnership in the 34th over as Gill slammed a boundary in Anderson’s over. Gill completed his fifty on the first ball of the 40th over by taking a single in Mark Wood’s over. He completed his fifty in 64 balls.
In the 57th over, both the batter completed their 150-run partnership as Rohit hit a boundary on the bowling of spinner Tom Hartley. In the same over, Rohit completed his hundred as he took a single on the last ball of the over which was laced by 13 fours and three sixes in his innings.
On the second ball of the 59th over, Gill also scored his fourth Test ton as he slammed a boundary on the bowling youngster Shoaib Bashir with the help of 10 boundaries and five sixes.
Brief score: England 218 (Zak Crawley 79, Jonny Bairstow 29; Kuldeep Yadav 5/72) vs India 473/8 (Shubman Gill 110, Kuldeep Yadav 27*, Jasprit Bumrah 19*; Shoaib Bashir 4/170). (ANI)