India vs England : 2nd Test Match at Edgbaston ; Day Two

 

India vs England : 2nd  Test Match at Edgbaston

Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

         "The Aura of an emerging Star".

Gill magic the power of  Shubman Gill was on display at Edgbaston till he was out missing the triple century. 

He was at his best, concentrating on each delivery, showed his skills either by moving away from the leg stump and hitting a four off Carse or even guiding the ball at the last moment through the slip cordon deceiving the wicket keeper for 4 and reaching his 250....whatever set and done 269 runs did helped the team to reach 587 for India. Gill came to bat at 95 for 2 and departed at 574 runs speaks the Captain's day continued even on the 2nd day.

Jadeja was playing superbly from the first ball today and together with Gill provided a big platform for the bowlers to perform. A solid partnership of 203 runs between the two and Jadeja leaving with his score a well made 89 runs, reflecting his composure and experience to restore his pride and contribute for the team.

Shubman Gill is in sublime form scoring 424 runs in three innings at an astonishing average of 141.33

Captain continued undeterred with his new partner Washington Sundar and built another useful partnership of 144 runs. He batted sensibly and rotated strike to support his Captain, which is visible from his contribution of 42 runs out of 144 runs partnership. 

The story of the Indian innings rotated around such partnerships except for KL Rahul and Nitish Reddy to reach 574 runs when Gill departed..the tailenders couldn't stay that long and only could add another 13 runs.

To say that we still have a long tail is correct with the three pacers scored 19 runs amongst themselves which calls for some introspection as the opponents are in better shape than ours at the bottom level of their batting order. 

England bowling was not as they had shown on day one, the crucial wickets 

The achievements today : 

• Shubman Gill's 269 surpassed Virat Kohli's previous record of 254 highest by an Indian Captain.
• His 269 is also the highest score achieved by any Indian batter on English soil. 
• Gill's score of 269 is now the highest individual score by an Indian batter outside the Indian subcontinent, surpassing Tendulkar's 241. 

After Gills marathon innings of 8 1/2-hour innings led India to 587 all out — its highest score in England in 35 years —the pacers Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj found life in a seemingly lifeless pitch to reduce England to 25-3 with three edges into the slips cordon. The England batters were unable to negotiate the swing and all ended in the hands of the waiting fielders. Akash Deep lured the batters on the off stump and the swing did the trick. Siraj was troubling the batters with his pace and movement of the seam.

  

By the close of the play on 2nd day, Brooks with 30 runs and Joe Root with 18 runs were at the crease trailing by 510 runs. Earlier Brooks survived a close call of Siraj which after review went to Umpires call while the replay showed the ball hitting the stumps. The advantage of Umpires call also went in India's favour on Day one of this test match.

Clearly the 2nd day belonged to Shubman Gill and India with England struggling initially in their 1st innings. 

"Well said Captain, the true leader" :  Gill mentioned in today's post match interview that he had planned to continue as long as he can as there is always a chance of collapse and staying in the wicket for him will be the key for his team. 

Ben Stokes must be wondering on his decision to put Indian into bat requiring 151 overs and over five sessions to bowl out India on this seemingly flat batting track.

Third day starts with a new energy and as always "third day is the crucial juncture when the teams will try to solidify their position and take suitable gains for the balance part of the game.

Team of pacers and spinners will have to break the partnership in the 1st hour of the play and take the advantage of the morning conditions. Looking forward towards Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy on how they bowl in this test match.

The morning session of the moving day will be the critical point for the way forward and also take grip on the test match in which India has gained the edge and have control on the game.