1st Test: Gill hits career-best 147, Pant smashes 134 as India reach 454/7 against England

Leeds: Captain Shubman Gill's career-best 147 and vice-captain Rishabh Pant's astonishing 134 propelled India to 454/7 in 108.4 overs at lunch on day two of the first Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Headingley on Saturday. Resuming from 359/3, India had a session of two halves – 53/0 before the drinks break was taken. By then, Pant hit his seventh Test century and went past MS Dhoni (six) for the most Test centuries hit by an Indian wicketkeeper.
The flamboyant Pant's third Test hundred in England, laced with magnificence and madness in stroke-play in equal measure, is a feat no other visiting keeper has achieved before. But after the drinks break, India lost four wickets, including both centurions Gill and Pant, for 42 runs, giving England a chance of bowling out India below 500.
Gill got Day Two underway with a gorgeous extra cover drive off Chris Woakes for four before Pant pulled and steered Brydon Carse for boundaries, despite missing a hack down the ground off the pacer. The duo continued to trade in boundaries, as Pant went into the 90s with a falling scoop off Shoaib Bashir for four, before walloping him for six.
Pant then stepped out to heave Bashir for a one-handed six over midwicket to bring up his enthralling century off 146 deliveries and celebrated with his signature somersault, a skill he picked up from undergoing gymnastics practice in his growing-up years.
Pant then brought up 200 runs of his stand with Gill when he managed to clear long-off for six off Bashir before the partnership was ended by the off-spinner when the Indian captain holed out to deep square leg, as he fell for a classy 147.
Pant's fun continued when he creamed Stokes for four, and slog-swept Bashir for six, before pulling off the England captain for another boundary. But from the other end, Karun Nair's comeback to the Test team after eight years lasted just four balls as he reached out to a wide ball off Stokes, and Ollie Pope at cover took a brilliant leaping catch to dismiss him for a duck.
With some reverse swing on offer, Pant was troubled by inswingers from Josh Tongue, before shouldering arms to a sharp nip-backer from around the wicket and was trapped lbw right in front of the stumps. Soon after, Shardul Thakur slashed Stokes behind to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith at the stroke of lunch, leaving India's quest of making 600 in doubt.
Brief scores:
India 454/7 in 108.4 overs (Shubman Gill 147, Rishabh Pant 134; Ben Stokes 4-66, Josh Tongue 1-79) against England

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Time of India

44 minutes ago

• Time of India

Cricket: England cancel out India's first innings lead as visitors endure below par day in the field

LEEDS: K L Rahul drove his way to a sublime 47 after England negated India's advantage by totalling 465 in their first innings as the visitors had another ordinary day in the field on day three of the first Test here on Sunday. India dropped as many as five catches and barring Jasprit Bumrah , the effort from the pacers left a lot to be desired, allowing England to even out the game after the Shubman Gill-led side posted 471 in its first essay. At stumps, India reached 90 for two with Rahul (47 batting off 75) and Shubman Gill (6 batting off 10). Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Chuck Norris Says Stay Away From These Foods After 60 Roundhouse Provisions Learn More Undo Brydon Carse had Yashavi Jaiswal (4 off 11) caught behind with a ball that seamed away while Ben Stokes got rid of debutant Sai Sudharsan (30 off 48) for the second time in the game, the southpaw's flick falling into the hands of Zak Crawley at mid-wicket. Rahul was a delight to watch as majority of his seven fours came via the cover and square drive off the fast bowlers. He did not look any discomfort whatsoever despite the ball doing a bit in overcast conditions. Stumps were drawn when rain arrived at Headingley with India leading by 96 runs. Live Events In an extended afternoon session, Harry Brook ran out of luck on 99 before Jasprit Bumrah completed a well deserved five-wicket haul to ensure a slender six-run first innings lead for India. Before Bumrah castled Josh Tongue to end England innings, Chris Woakes (38 off 55) punished a predictable Indian pace attack to take his team close to India's 471. Hosts continued to find the boundaries at will as they collected 138 runs in 23.4 overs in the afternoon session with the loss of five wickets. Prasidh Krishna removed Jamie Smith (40 off 52) and Brook (99 off 112) with the short ball but leaked too many runs at the same time with his one dimensional tactic, conceding 128 runs in 20 overs. Bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur was under bowled again, raising questions over his selection. Bumrah, who has by far been the best Indian bowler on display, picked up his 14th fifer in the longest format ending with figures of 5/83 in 24.4 overs. India's fielding have been their weakest link so far in the game and having been give two lives, Brook was dropped again, on 82, by Jaiswal off Bumrah. The explosive England batter however could not use those chances to score a famous hundred and was dismissed on 99 in the 88th over. India had taken the new ball after 80 overs but were not able to make good use of it. Captain Shubman Gill made questionable calls like introducing Ravindra Jadeja towards the end of the session and bringing back Bumrah for a late burst. In the opening session, Brook went on the offensive against an inconsistent Indian pace attack, taking England to 327 for five at lunch. Resuming at an overnight 209 for three, Brook ensured that England scored at a brisk pace, totalling 118 runs in 28 overs. The visitors got two welcome wickets of overnight centurion Ollie Pope (106 off 137) and England captain Ben Stokes (20 off 52). Like day two, the other Indian pacers could not match the accuracy of Bumrah. Brook, dismissed off a Bumrah no ball at the stroke of stumps on day two, was dropped by wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant on 46 shortly before lunch. Jadeja, who was able to extract sharp turn from the rough, got one to turn away sharply but Pant could not hold on to the rising ball. In the same over, Brook completed his 12th Test fifty, adding to the frustration of the Indians who have been sloppy with their catching thus far in the game. Led by captain Shubman Gill, the Indians were also very vocal about their issues with a worn out Dukes ball throughout the session. The umpires relented before the 75th over while the new ball will be due after 80 overs. The session belonged to the highly rated Brook who produced a display of audacious strokeplay from the get go. Krishna offered two loose balls in the first over of the day and Brook duly put them for a four through point and six off over mid-wicket. Brook's tactics against the pacers, including Bumrah, stood out as he charged down to them for aerial drives over extra cover. Krishna, in his following over, was lucky to get Pope out as the England number three edged a short and wide ball to the keeper.

First Post

an hour ago

• First Post

India still in control, but costly errors keep England alive at Headingley

The first Test between India and England at Headingley remains evenly poised after three days, with India slightly ahead. However, costly fielding lapses and questionable selection choices may come back to haunt India later on, especially if they go down. read more Another day in the books at Headingley, another that ends with this Test fascinatingly poised – a back-and-forth contest with all results still very much possible. India may very well win this game, in fact statisticians CricViz have them as 48% favourites to do so (England 37%, the draw 15%) – but as those numbers indicate they could also quite easily lose too and if they do they may well look back and rue the small but crucial moments that could cost them dearly. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Thakur's selection backfires? Perhaps the first of these came before the toss, India opting for the selection of Shardul Thakur, picked as a bowling all-rounder who would bat at number eight. Except Thakur only bowled six overs in England's innings, which, considering it lasted more than 100 overs, is little more than a part-timer might expect to get. Not only that but they went for 38 wicketless runs – 6.33 per over – and to add insult to injury, he also managed to bowl nearly 30% of India's no-balls too. To cap off the all-around performance, he also made just 1 with the bat. If India had wanted Thakur in the side for his bowling then why did he bowl so little? It is difficult to argue that any of Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh or Kuldeep Yadav wouldn't have added far more to the visitor's cause on that front. And if they wanted someone to bolster the lower-order batting while chipping in with the occasional over, then surely Nitish Reddy would have made more sense. India's collapse proves costly However, it would be churlish to lay all of the blame on the selection of Thakur. Arguably, when the dust settles from this match, the moment India will regret the most is the hour either side of the lunch break on Day Two. To collapse from 430/3 to 471 all out is unfortunate, but to do so on a pitch where three of your top five have already made hundreds smacks of carelessness. Fielding errors may haunt India Perhaps where India were the sloppiest though was in the field. When Jasprit Bumrah had England under the cosh early on it was Indian mistakes that allowed the hosts to just about cling on. Zak Crawley was already back in the shed and both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope looked far from secure at the crease – it seemed more like a case of when rather than if the next Bumrah breakthrough would come. Indeed, it should have been the last ball of the seventh over, Duckett carved Bumrah straight to backward point, except the normally outstanding Ravindra Jadeja spilled the catch; England's opener reprieved on just 15, the hosts given an enormous let off. It marked the start of a loose period in the field for India, several fumbles allowing England to pick off extra runs here and there – a gradual easing of the pressure at the very moment that they should have been trying their hardest to really turn the screw. Pope would also be reprieved on 60, dropped by Yashasvi Jaiswal again off the bowling of Bumrah – he would have a century before the close. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Even India's premier fast bowler wasn't immune from the disease, Bumrah overstepping for a potentially match-turning no ball when he'd had Harry Brook caught at midwicket for 0 – he would ultimately make 99 priceless runs to drag England almost to parity. Unfortunately for India, their sloppiness in the field was something that carried over into Day Three. Brook given a lifeline with lunch looming, put down by Rishabh Pant on 46 off the bowling of Jadeja. India still hold the edge In fact, there was no greater beneficiary of Indian profligacy than Brook, bailed out again by a dropped catch on 82 – Jaiswal off the bowling of Bumrah for the second time in the match. Given he dropped both of England's top scorers, it is fortunate the opener had plenty of credit in the bank following his sparkling first innings ton. Ultimately, India should probably not be too concerned. Should they win, then all these moments will be forgotten; should they lose they can at least take solace in the fact that they have displayed enormous firepower with both bat and ball, with only a few minor adjustments needed to iron out the kinks. Whatever the result, on the evidence of three days in Leeds, we should be in for a cracking series.

The Hindu

an hour ago

• The Hindu

Bumrah defends Indian fielders

In a parallel world, Jasprit Bumrah could have had more than the five wickets he ended up with in England's first innings here, and that too in double quick time. But a disastrous fielding display by his teammates – they dropped three catches off his bowling – and some rotten luck – he dismissed Harry Brook off a no-ball when on nought – ensured India was on the field for far longer than desired. But Bumrah was empathetic towards his fielders. 'You have to move forward,' he said on Sunday. 'I try to quickly forget. They [fielders] are also new [to England] and sometimes the ball is tough to sight. I don't want to be angry and kicking and putting more pressure.' Bumrah also stated that the wicket was still good to bat. 'There is a little bit of two-pace and the new ball might swing. But no demons. It's a fast scoring ground. So the more runs we get, the better.' By his own admission, the 31-year-old is not looking to play more than three Tests this series for better management of his workload. But the potential limited participation doesn't affect his thinking and preparation, he said. 'You don't look at what is going to happen. At this moment, I am trying to assess the wicket, and the batter. I am not thinking about how many games I am going to play.' The constant chatter about his career ending because of injuries also doesn't bother him. 'It was once said that I can't play cricket at all. Then it became six months, eight months. But it's been more than 10 years now in internationals and 12 to 13 years of IPL. Still people are saying 'I will go'. People can keep saying, but I am going nowhere. I will keep playing until god allows me to and try taking Indian cricket forward.'