India's Gill hits record-breaking ton and sets England mammoth 608 to win Test / Photo: Darren Staples - AFP
India's Gill hits record-breaking ton and sets England mammoth 608 to win Test
India captain Shubman Gill became the first batsman in Test history to make scores of 250 and 150 in the same match as the tourists set England a mammoth target of 608 to win in Birmingham on Saturday.
Gill followed his first-innings 267 in the second Test at Edgbaston with another superb knock of 161 off just 162 balls.
He eventually declared India's second-innings on 427-6 after tea on the fourth day.
No side in 148 years of Test cricket have made more to win in the fourth innings than West Indies' 418 against Australia at St John's in 2003.
England's record is their 378 against India at Edgbaston three years ago.
By taking his tally in this match to 430 runs, the 25-year-old Gill became only the fifth batsman to score 400 or more runs in single Test.
Gill, thrust into the captaincy following Rohit Sharma's shock retirement from Test duty in May, has scored three hundreds in his first four innings as skipper following his 147 during India's defeat in the first Test at Headingley.
He was ably assisted earlier Saturday by Rishabh Pant, who made England pay dearly for dropping him twice with a typically dashing 65 during a fourth-wicket partnership of 110 in just 103 balls.
Gill was 24 not out at lunch, with Pant unbeaten on 41.
- Tongue lashing -
Yet it was Gill who got to fifty first as he showed he could up the tempo by hitting fast bowler Josh Tongue for three consecutive boundaries.
A superb hooked six was followed by a swiped four over mid-on in almost Pant-like fashion before Gill's scorching pull sped through England captain Ben Stokes, who got a hand to the ball but could not stop it.
Gill, batting in the number four slot previously occupied by India star Virat Kohli, who retired just days after Rohit, hooked another six off Tongue.
Pant went to fifty before flaying a good length ball from Tongue for a six and his trademark falling sweep shot led to a four against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.
But next ball trying to launch Bashir, he lost control of his bat, which flew to midwicket while the ball went to deep mid-off -- where Ben Duckett made no mistake with the catch.
Pant faced just 58 balls, including eight fours and three sixes.
After tea, Gill piled on the runs with a brilliant straight six and two fours off consecutive balls from local hero Chris Woakes.
The India skipper then slog-swept part-time off-spinner Joe Root for six to go to 150 in superb style.
There was a comical moment next ball when Ollie Pope, with sunglasses on top of his cap rather than over his eyes, lost sight of a chance in the deep.
Gill's brilliant display finally ended when he spooned a simple return catch to Bashir, having hit 13 fours and eight sixes in his latest masterclass.
There were chants of "Boring, boring India" as the tourists batted on before Gill finally called a halt, with Ravindra Jadeja 69 not out.
India resumed Saturday on 64-1, a lead of 244 runs, after England reached 407 in their first innings, thanks almost entirely to an electric partnership of over 300 runs between Jamie Smith and Harry Brook.
Pant, in at 126-3, took just four balls to straight-drive Tongue for a superb six.
Pant was reprieved on 10 when mid-off Zak Crawley dropped a routine catch off Stokes' bowling.
And he was missed again on 31 when a diving Woakes dropped a tough low catch following a legside flick off Tongue, who finished with expensive figures of 2-93 in 15 overs.
jdg/pb
A.C.Netterville--NG
