Visakhapatnam: India batter Shubman Gill believes the hosts are pretty much in the game after setting a daunting target of 399 for England in the second Test at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, adding that it is currently 70-30 in favour of them.
England have a mammoth task ahead of day four’s play, after ending day three at 67/1 in 14 overs, and need 332 runs more for an improbable win. On the other hand, India need nine wickets to square the five-game series.
“I think it is a pretty decent wicket to bat on. Run scoring is not easy, you can’t hit on the rise, and you have to apply yourself because the odd one is turning and keeping low. Hopefully, if we get the right number of balls in the right area tomorrow, we’ll get the job done.”
“We are pretty much in the game; I think it is about 70-30 at the moment. I think the morning session will be important because we have seen moisture for the quicker bowlers and spinners so if you get the right number of balls in the right area it should be good,” said Gill to broadcasters.
With the bat, the day belonged to Gill, who hit his third Test century in India’s second innings total of 255. Gill got a few slices of luck early on and made it count by slamming 104 off 147 balls, his first Test century as a number three batter.
Gill could have been the third batter to get out in the morning session for India if he hadn’t taken the DRS on an LBW decision against Tom Hartley, with replays showing a slight inside edge.
“The first one that I nicked, I definitely didn’t feel but Shreyas Iyer, at the other end, told me to take the review just in case it was the umpire’s call and once I saw the deflection on the big screen I was pleased,” he said.
In the next over, Gill escaped again when Anderson trapped him LBW with a nip-backer, as the umpire’s call showed the ball clipping just the top of the leg-stump. He went on to hit 11 fours and two sixes in his knock of 104, from which a standout point was him taking 29 singles, easing pressure on his back after a lean run in the format.
Gill looked to go big before he was dismissed while reverse-sweeping off Shoaib Bashir, giving a catch to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. For the dismissal, captain Ben Stokes had employed six fielders on the leg-side, which meant there was only room on the off-side to access for him.
“Nothing really (on thoughts before being dismissed). I saw the point fielder go there and I thought on that wicket the reverse sweep was a percentage shot, but maybe not in that situation where there were five or six overs to go until tea. Maybe I should have played through that and got the runs after tea.”
His partnerships of 81 with Shreyas Iyer and 89 with Patel (45), followed by a late 29 from Ashwin helped India reach a competitive total. But they were unable to entirely bat England out of the match, as the hosts lost the last six wickets for 44 runs.
“I am definitely very pleased, but I think I left a bit out there, to be honest. We were in a good position, and I think we could have scored a few more runs, but overall, I think it was a good effort,” concluded Gill.
–IANS