Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): Shubman Gills remarkable century along with Axar Patels composed performance has firmly maintained Indias control on Day 3 of the Test against England at the ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
As the Tea session came to a close India confidently reached a total of 227/6 establishing a lead of 370 runs. The unbeaten partnership between KS Bharat (6 runs off 27 balls). Ravichandran Ashwin (1 run off 8 balls) further solidified Indias position.
In order to avoid a collapse like in the Test Gill (104) and Axar (45) formed a crucial partnership of 89 runs dispelling any doubts about Indias resilience. Gill took charge as the run scorer while Patel provided stability by skillfully controlling the game and keeping the scoreboard ticking.
With a yet effective approach 24 year old Gill targeted Rehan Ahmed and consistently accumulated runs. Displaying finesse in his footwork Gill secured his Test century. Despite field placements attempted by England Test skipper Ben Stokes to create traps, for both batsmen they navigated them skillfully.
However Gills innings came to an end when he tried a sweep but gloved the ball straight into Ben Foakes hands off Shoaib Bashirs delivery.
Stokes initially disagreed with the umpires decision. Chose to use the Decision Review System (DRS). The review showed a touch off Gills gloves resulting in Englands first successful review in the series.
Gill played an innings hitting 11 boundaries and two sixes. After Axar got out to Tom Hartleys delivery Ravichandran Ashwin joined Bharat at the batting crease. The partnership slowed down the run rate as England bowled five maiden overs and conceded two runs through leg byes.
At the start of the day India had a score of 28/0 with captain Rohit Sharma (13*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (15*) at the crease. However Rohit was dismissed by James Anderson leaving India at 29/1. Jaiswal also fell after caught by Joe Root off Andersons bowling reducing India to 30/2.
Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill then took charge. Punished Englands spinners with aggressive shots. Gills six in the 17th over brought Indias lead, to 200 runs. Unfortunately their promising partnership was cut short when Hartley dismissed Iyer for 29 caught by Stokes. Rajat Patidar, making his debut had a stint before being caught by Foakes off Rehan Ahmeds bowling for just 9 runs. This left India at a score of 122/4.
Brief Score: India 396 & 227/6 (Shubman Gill 104, Axar Patel 45; Tom Hartley 2-71) vs England 253 (Zak Crawley 76, Ben Stokes 47; Jasprit Bumrah 6-45).