Credit: BCCI/X
During the first session on day five of the fourth Test in the five-match series, currently being played at Old Trafford in Manchester, Shubman Gill, the captain of India, completed his ninth Test hundred against England before celebrating the moment by punching the air in delight. With India finding themselves in a position wherein they could only draw the Test match at best, the 25-year-old put together an exceptional innings, to keep his team in it on the fifth and final day.
After trailing England by a massive margin of 311 runs in the first innings, India’s second innings began poorly, losing the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in the first over on the bowling of Chris Woakes without troubling the scorers. Shubman Gill arrived at the crease in the first session of day four, to face up the hat-trick ball, and after surviving that, he went on to score runs quickly in the second session on day four in a partnership with KL Rahul.
He reached his fifty in 77 balls with eight fours in the third session of day four before some exceptional bowling from England curbed his scoring rate quite considerably. After batting through two sessions in a row on the fourth day alongside KL Rahul, Shubman Gill kept his innings going while being content in defense in the first session on day five, although the third wicket partnership of 188 runs came to an end in the first hour.
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Shubman Gill lost his batting partner KL Rahul, who scored 90 off 230 with eight fours, to Ben Stokes after the latter hadn’t bowled an over on day four. It led to Washington Sundar joining him at the crease, and shortly after, he eventually reached his ninth Test hundred in 228 balls after taking a single towards the point region on the bowling of Chris Woakes.
But Shubman Gill’s innings came to an end just minutes before lunch on day five, when he chased a wider line delivery from Jofra Archer, only to nick it through to the wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. He ended up scoring 103 off 238 with 12 fours, and at lunch, India reached 223/4 in their second innings with Washington Sundar (21* off 61) and Ravindra Jadeja (0* off 4) at the crease, still trailing England by 88 runs.
Below are the playing XIs of England and India for the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
