India crossed the 300-mark on the first day of the Edgbaston Test despite losing five wickets.
Shubman Gill roared with passion after reaching his hundred, taking off his helmet following back-to-back boundaries off Joe Root from 94. He now has centuries in back-to-back matches as Test captain. Yashasvi Jaiswal, on the other hand, narrowly missed out on a hundred but gave hope early on. India have laid a strong foundation in the Edgbaston Test.
After losing the first match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India ended Day 1 of the second Test at 310 for 5 in 85 overs.
Gill remains unbeaten on 114 off 216 balls with 12 boundaries. He’s now the fourth Indian to score centuries in each of his first two Tests as captain, joining the likes of Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, and Virat Kohli.
He has built an unbeaten 99-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who has moved past 40. Jaiswal earlier scored a solid 107-ball 87, laced with 13 boundaries.
However, the day didn’t start perfectly for Gill — he lost the toss again, just like in the previous Test. India have now lost the toss in 300 out of their 591 Tests.
Only England (563 out of 1,086 Tests) and Australia (434 out of 875) have lost more tosses than India in Test history.
India made three changes after the Headingley Test, where they lost despite five centuries. With workload management in mind, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah was rested — a decision that’s stirred debate in Indian cricket circles.
In Bumrah’s absence, Akash Deep got the nod. Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur also made way for Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar.
The pitch offered some grass and early movement for pacers. Chris Woakes took full advantage, breaking the opening stand by bowling out KL Rahul in the 8th over. His opening spell read an impressive 7-4-15-1.
Jaiswal and Karun Nair steadied things with an 80-run partnership off 90 balls for the second wicket. Despite getting set at number three for the first time in his career, Karun fell for 31 off 50 balls, caught in the slips off a rising delivery from Brydon Carse.
Back in Tests after eight years, the 33-year-old failed to convert for the third straight time.
Jaiswal, meanwhile, had a slow start — 16 off his first 34 balls — before speeding up to reach his fifty in the next 25 balls. This was his seventh consecutive Test fifty against England, a feat previously achieved only by Rahul Dravid among Indians.
He looked set for a century but was dismissed for 87 after chasing a wide delivery from Ben Stokes, edging it to the keeper. Earlier, Stokes had exchanged words with Jaiswal and celebrated wildly after removing him.
With 1,990 runs from 39 innings, Jaiswal now needs just 10 more to become the fastest Indian to reach 2,000 in Tests. The current record — 40 innings — is shared by Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.
India lost only one wicket in the second session after losing two in the first.
Gill and Rishabh Pant then took India past 200 with a solid fourth-wicket stand. Pant, who had hit twin tons in the first Test, couldn’t kick on this time. He perished trying to go big off Shoaib Bashir, caught at long-on after scoring 25 off 42 balls with a four and a six.
Chris Woakes then removed Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was bowled leaving a delivery. The 22-year-old all-rounder scored just one.
India were 211 for 5 at that stage. From there, Gill and Jadeja took charge and didn’t let England make further inroads. Gill completed his century in the final hour of play, reaching the milestone off 199 balls.
Day 1 Summary
India 1st innings: 310/5 in 85 overs (Jaiswal 87, Rahul 2, Karun 31, Gill 114*, Pant 25, Nitish 1, Jadeja 41*; Woakes 21–6–59–2, Carse 16–2–49–1, Tongue 13–0–66–0, Stokes 15–0–58–1, Bashir 19–0–65–1, Root 1–0–8–0)
