Under-fire India batter Shubman Gill soared back to form with a century in the second innings of the second Test against England. Gill, whose place in the Indian team was under threat, owing a string of underwhelming performances, gave another fine example of the quality he has as a batter. As critics targeted Gill, former England captain Kevin Pietersen jumped to his defence, vouching for him publicly on social media. After the conclusion of the second Test in Vizag, Pietersen thanked Gill for repaying his faith with a ton, and also asked a tricky question.
Gill, taking up the No. 3 spot in Tests for India, didn’t take the field on Day 4 of the Vizag match because of an injury. But, he did have a chat with the broadcaster Jio Cinema after the end of the match.
It was then that Pietersen asked him about the pressure of playing for India at No. 3 spot. Gill said that he would answer the questio nin ‘one line’.
“My heartbeat playing the first ball and the last ball was the same”, he said in response to Pietersen.
As for the match,
England began day four at 67 for one, chasing a record target of 399. They were bowled out for 292 in the extended afternoon session.
The visiting team’s no holds barred approach, which has largely been successful, did not work on this occasion as India picked up nine wickets over the course of two sessions to bounce back in the five-match series.
“You know winning a Test in these conditions is not easy. (I) wanted our bowlers to step up and they did that,” said an elated India skipper Rohit Sharma.
Only Zak Crawley‘s (73 off 132 balls) strategy of mixing caution with aggression worked before the collective efforts of Jasprit Bumrah (3/46), R Ashwin (3/71), Axar Patel (1/75) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/60) yielded the desired results for the hosts who were under pressure going into day four.
Bumrah picked up the Player of the Match honours for his overall haul of nine wickets in the game, ahead of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a crucial 209-run knock in India’s first innings.
With PTI inputs
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