Shubman Gill completed a gutsy hundred after Ben Stokes battled through pain to dismiss a well set KL Rahul, leaving India at 223 for four on day five of the fourth Test against England in Manchester on Sunday.
Resuming the day at 174 for two with a deficit of 137, India remained on course to draw the game courtesy a fighting effort from Gill, who brought up his fourth century of the series. The Indian captain fell at the stroke of lunch as the visitors still trail England by 88 runs.
Considering India’s backs against the walls and series on the line, this could be Gill’s most defining century if India managed to save the match and keep the series alive. It would still be a tough ask with Rishabh Pant injured and not much batting to follow.
Ravindra Jadeja (0 batting) had just joined Washington Sundar (21 batting off 61) when lunch was taken after Gill’s dismissal. Expecting the ball to come back in, Gill felt for the one from Jofra Archer that shaped away, getting a faint outside edge.
With India behind in the game, Gill was understandably disappointed at the time of his dismissal.
The 188-run marathon stand between Gill and Rahul (90 off 230) was finally broken when the latter was trapped in front by Stokes with a ball that kept a tad low from length.
Soon after, Stokes got one jump to sharply from a similar length that foxed Rahul, leaving the Indian skipper in a lot of pain.
The rising ball first crashed into Gill’s right thumb before taking a piece of his helmet.
It was remarkable that Stokes, who was not fit enough to bowl on day four, managed an eight-over spell on day five despite discomfort in his right shoulder and hamstring. Like at Lord’s, he did not care much about his injury prone body to help the team’s cause.
The new ball was taken after the 80th over and resulted in the wicket of Gill. Jadeja too would have be gone first ball but Joe Root could not hold on to a tough chance at first slip off Archer.
Liam Dawson and Stokes opened the bowling for England. Left-arm spinner Dawson bowling into the rough challenged Washington and hardly gave away any runs.
