India vs England: A new era begins with tons from Jaiswal and Gill

Kolkata: Resolute hundreds from Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill propelled India to a commanding 359/3 on Day 1 of the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. Yashasvi Jaiswal in action on Day 1 of Leeds Test. (Action Images via Reuters)
Put to bat on a Yorkshire pitch that had an even covering of grass, Jaiswal and KL Rahul stitched a 91-run opening stand before England took two wickets in six balls on the stroke of lunch threatening to derail India. That prompted an even stronger response from the visitors, with Jaiswal adding 129 runs with Gill before being cleaned up by Ben Stokes in the 53rd over. Dug in by then, Gill shepherded the innings with impressive doggedness that was countered by an entertaining fifty from Rishabh Pant, as the captain and vice-captain added another 138 runs to pile more misery on England.
More than just the numbers, this was a day that turned out to be better than what India were collectively hoping for after the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The reaction has been stupendous. Jaiswal now has hundreds in his first Test in the West Indies, in India, Australia and England. Gill becomes only the fourth Indian after Vijay Hazare (1951), Sunil Gavaskar (1976) and Virat Kohli (2014) to score a hundred in his first innings as captain. An unprecedented dilemma over the No. 3 position yielded a slightly surprising debut of B Sai Sudharsan, a tryst that lasted just four balls, but that was not to undo any of the good work the rest of the batters did.
India's openers set the template, not only providing their side with a solid base to build upon, but establishing a model of patience and judiciousness that the following batters promised to emulate. Barring Pant of course, who charted his innings with a range of improvised strokes, skipping down to Ben Stokes and swatting the ball over his head, refusing to respect Shoaib Bashir's off breaks, paddling and pulling but also showing the presence of mind to not go overboard all the time.
Showstopping act was Jaiswal's hundred though, a riveting display of off-side strokeplay with only nine of those 100 runs coming from the leg side. The only time Jaiswal looked a bit wobbly was when Brydon Carse struck him in the ribs by Brydon Carse.
Before and after that, Jaiswal was happily dictating the flow of runs, cutting and driving with pomp. So spooked were England that they burned an lbw review on a Josh Tongue delivery from around the wicket that had pitched outside leg stump. Stunned into submission, England later couldn't go for a leg-before review because Brydon Carse had overstepped while bowling a ball that to the naked eye felt like Jaiswal had got his bat down to first.
Jaiswal took his time getting to fifty, but the acceleration thereafter was scary as his second 50 took just 48 balls. The way Jaiswal got to his hundred too was dramatic. On 91, with three balls left in Carse's over, he cut him hard through point for a boundary before going through the covers for another four. Last ball of that over, Jaiswal rocked back to dab the ball and started celebrating his hundred while still completing the single.
By then Gill had worked up a nice appetite for runs, scoring his fastest fifty—off just 56 balls—after a slightly anxious start where he almost ran himself out trying to get a tight single off what was only the sixth ball he had faced. That was possibly the only time Gill looked flustered. Otherwise, irrespective of partners, he was calmness personified, blocking away everything directed at his fourth stump and taking toll on everything that was slightly off that corridor of uncertainty.
Along with Jaiswal, Gill nurdled singles and caressed boundaries, relentlessly pursuing a tactic of finding boundaries and taking singles so that the bowlers couldn't settle on a line because of the left-right combination. Each run chipped away at England's patience. Stokes looked so perturbed that he brought himself on. And while he did get Sudharsan by strangling him on the leg-side with a leg slip and a leg gully, Gill and Jaiswal proved to be difficult to dislodge. Jaiswal departed right after tea but not to be lost on the outcome of this Test is the immense value of the wicketless session he had manufactured with Gill before that.
Gill assuming charge from there was like a foregone conclusion. The extra bit of caution was unmissable, as was the way his eyes lit up every time England bowled to his strengths. Be it cutting Woakes in front of square or getting inside the line and glancing Stokes for a sublime boundary, Gill's intent echoed that of a man flourishing in his responsibility. The century came unhurried, Gill driving Tongue through covers to herald a new beginning for India. Gabba in 2021 had given us the first indication that the next generation of Indian batting was ready to take over. Headingley now becomes an exceptional and spectacular addition to a growing body of evidence that this generation may not be as extravagantly gifted as their predecessors but are willing to succeed by concentrating on the basics.

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