IND VS ENG 2nd Test: Shubman Gill century leaves England chasing record target

Visitors reach 67/1 at stumps; need 332 runs for win

Visakhapatnam: Set an imposing target of 399 to beat India in the second Test at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, England ended day three’s play at 67/1 in 14 overs.

Though India are very much in the ascendancy, there remains the outside chance of England completing an improbable chase through their Bazball style of playing Test cricket. Ben Duckett made 28 in a fifty-run opening stand with Zak Crawley before being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin.

Crawley remained not out on 29, alongside the promoted Rehan Ahmed, who’s unbeaten on nine, with England needing 332 more runs for an astonishing victory in what is the toughest challenge of the Bazball era so far. No team has ever made 300 in a fourth-innings chase in India and England’s challenge also includes a pitch with variable bounce, as well as Joe Root’s right little finger injury.

With 14 overs left in the day, Duckett and Crawley took two boundaries each off Mukesh Kumar, though Bumrah got the new ball to talk and ask questions of the openers. Crawley was quick to slog-sweep Kuldeep Yadav for six, followed by Duckett taking two fours off him via sweeps.

But Ashwin struck by ending Duckett’s stay with a drifting-in delivery which he bat-pad to wicketkeeper K.S. Bharat, who dived forward from his usual keeping position to take a diving catch. Crawley then drove Ashwin down the ground for four while Rehan took two boundaries off Axar to end an engrossing day of Test cricket.

Previously, riding on Shubman Gill’s third Test century, and some important contributions from Axar Patel and Ashwin, India’s second innings ended at 255 in 78.3 overs. IANS

Scoreboard  

India   : 1st innings 396, England: 1st innings: 253

India: 2nd innings:

Yashasvi Jaiswal      c Root b Anderson          17

*Rohit Sharma         b Anderson  13

Shubman Gill           c Foakes b Bashir            104

Shreyas Iyer            c Stokes b Hartley           29

Rajat Patidar           c Foakes b Ahmed          9

Axar Patel                lbw b Hartley                   45

Srikar Bharat           c Stokes b Ahmed           6

R Ashwin                 c Foakes b Ahmed          29

Kuldeep Yadav        c Duckett b Hartley          0

Jasprit Bumrah        c Bairstow b Hartley        0

Mukesh Kumar        not out                             0

Extras: 3;                 Total:                              255-10

FOW:Sharma (29-1, 6.4), Jaiswal (30-2, 8.3), Iyer (111-3, 27.1), Patidar (122-4, 31), Gill (211-5, 56), Patel (220-6, 60), Bharat (228-7, 64.4), Yadav (229-8, 65.5), Bumrah (255-9, 77.4), Ashwin (255-10, 78.3)

Bowling:

James Anderson     10                1                  29                2                 

Shoaib Bashir          15                0                  58                1                 

Rehan Ahmed         24.3             5                  88                3                 

Joe Root                  2                  1                  1                  0                 

Tom Hartley            27                3                  77                4

England: 2nd innings: Target 399

Zak Crawley            not out                             29

Ben Duckett             c Bharat b Ashwin           28

Rehan Ahmed         not out                             9

Extras: 1; Total:                                              67-1 (14)

FOW:Ben Duckett (50-1, 10.5)

Bowling:                  

Jasprit Bumrah        5                  1                  9                  0                 

Mukesh Kumar        2                  0                  19                0                 

Kuldeep Yadav        4                  0                  21                0                 

R Ashwin                 2                  0                  8                  1                 

Axar Patel                1                  0                  10                0

Also Read: Former India coach Ravi Shastri warns Shubman Gill: ‘Don’t forget, Pujara is waiting’

Also Watch: