DHARAMSALA: Captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scored centuries to bolster India’s lead to 255-run on Day 2 of the final Test of the five-match series against England.
Resuming India’s overnight score of 135/1, Rohit and Gill banked on the opening day’s momentum and dominated England’s bowling attack.
The duo batted at a brisk rate and added a further 140 runs to their second-wicket partnership with both scoring brisk centuries.
England finally had a moment to cherish when their skipper Ben Stokes struck on his first ball since his knee surgery last year to dismiss his Indian counterpart Sharma with a delivery that seamed off the pitch to rattle the batter’s off stump in the second over after lunch.
Rohit Sharma scored 103 off 162 deliveries with the help of 13 boundaries and three sixes.
Experienced pacer James Anderson strengthened England’s comeback in the next over as he got one to nip back in and bowled another centurion Gill to move one shy of becoming the third bowler to take 700 Test wickets, after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Australian great Shane Warne (708).
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Shubman Gill scored 110 off 150 deliveries, smashing 12 boundaries and five sixes.
Following the fall of the long-standing partnership, Sarfaraz Khan and debutant Devdutt Padikkal kept India in control with important half-centuries.
Sarfaraz scored a brisk 56 off 60 while Padikkal made 65 before both fell victim to Shoaib Bashir.
Their dismissals sparked a middle-order collapse as India lost regular wickets to slip to 428/8.
But a stubborn partnership between Kuldeep Yadav (27) and Jasprit Bumrah (19) denied England a chance to sweep off India’s tail.
The duo had added 45 runs to their ninth-wicket partnership and led India to 473/8 when the stumps were called.
Shoaib Bashir was the pick of the bowlers for England, picking up four wickets while Tom Hartley bagged two.
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