Tongue, Stokes bag four wickets each as India squander pole position

Taking up the coveted number four spot that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli made their own over the years in Indian cricket, Shubman Gill began his captaincy tenure with a bang, scoring 147 off 227 balls. His partner in the 209-run partnership for the fourth wicket, Rishabh Pant brought up his seventh Test ton, the most by an Indian wicketkeeper surpassing MS Dhoni, as India mounted a strong total in the first innings of the Headingley Test. The visitors, albeit, did leave some runs out there as they fell like ninepins to go from 430/3 to 471 all out.

Armed with the license to run amok, given the platform India had established thanks to the brilliant performances of Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Gill, Pant hit his first three boundaries on Day 2 off Brydon Carse. He then shifted gears as off-spinner Shoaib Bashir came into the attack, welcoming him with a deft paddle before mowing him over midwicket to enter the nineties.

Pant registered three figures with another swept six off Bashir, and marked the occasion with an eye-catching frontflip. With India cruising past the 400-run mark and still having seven wickets in hand, England ran the risk of being outbatted from the contest. However, Gill miscued a slog-sweep off Bashir to be caught at deep square leg on the verge of 150, and his wicket triggered an implosion that India certainly won’t be proud of.

England found some movement with the clouds gathering above. Josh Tongue was impressive as he made the ball talk to finish with a four-fer while skipper Ben Stokes dealt crucial blows to return a four-fer as well. India would be disappointed at not kicking on from 430/3, but the bowling conditions are archetypally English at the moment and they will expect Jasprit Bumrah to make early inroads.