DHARAMSALA: When Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill strode out to bat on Friday morning at the HPCA Stadium, it was not as cold or breezy as Day One. Yet, they knew how the conditions in the first hour would determine the day. So did England. Which is why they started with James Anderson and Shoaib Bashir. Twenty balls in, it was clear how India were going to go about their business.
Rohit had already sent a message, smashing consecutive boundaries off Bashir. But the real test awaited Gill. Anderson was trying to make the most of the morning weather. Gill, having already faced an over from Anderson, had just negated an inswinger. He knew what the 41-year-old, who was on 698 Test wickets, was trying and decided to take him on.
Gill charged at Anderson, stood tall and lofted him down the ground. Such was the sight of the ball sailing into the stands that even the Dhauladhar Range on the backdrop of the venue couldn’t make you take the eyes off Gill. Ben Stokes would nod in acknowledgment with a wry smile.
That was just the beginning. Two balls later, Gill would unleash a fierce cut, sending a short-of-length delivery to the ropes. Then, Rohit guided Anderson with such precision that Stokes took him off after a three-over spell. In came Mark Wood, hoping to hurry Rohit and Gill with his pace. He had two fielders on the leg side behind square, and kept hitting the lengths trying to provoke a mistimed hook or a pull.
But these two thrive against high pace. It is the sideways movement that troubles them. Like Wood occasionally did, an inswinger that took the outside edge of Gill in front of the middle-stump before racing to the ropes.
That apart, both Rohit and Gill were happy to keep their pulls down as well as duck when needed — in fact, the latter received a mean bouncer, but went down in time to evade it — while keeping the scoreboard moving. After a point, Stokes had no choice but to resort to spin from both ends.
Once the spinners came on, the duo settled down nicely. Gill stepped out to tonk Bashir every chance he got, with one of them almost going out of the ground. Rohit, at this point, was in no hurry. He was just playing the ball on merit while occasionally bringing out his cuts and pulls. Gill, meanwhile, used his vertical batswing to loft as and when possible. Such was his ferocity against Bashir that he caught up with Rohit as both entered the 90s.
Now, this is where things have to be put in context. Until Rajkot, Rohit was going through a lean patch. He had not scored a century in a while and needed some runs under the belt. Gill, meanwhile, was almost dropped (he may well have been if not for the century in Visakhapatnam). In the third Test, Rohit scored a century and Gill missed one by nine runs. Since then, Rohit had gotten into the groove and Gill, on the other hand, has come of age big time. That he took India across the line in Ranchi under testing conditions was not enough; when he got the chance to bat on a flat pitch, he took it with both hands.
All of a sudden, Gill had more than 400 runs in the series and Rohit was closing in.
Just before the stroke of lunch, Rohit flicked Tom Hartley in his trademark way to get his 12th Test hundred, ninth as an opener. The celebrations were a bit muted as the Indian captain raised his bat without removing his helmet like he would do for a half-century. In the next over, Gill got down on one knee to send Bashir into the square leg stands and the moment finally came.
Before Gill could celebrate, Rohit’s arms went aloft, celebrating the youngster’s milestone. Gill took his cap off, bowed down in front of the dressing room to acknowledge the applause (the crowd, including his dad who was watching from the stands, rose to applaud). Then, came the big hug from the captain, for he knew what this century meant to Gill. There was a reason why he was featuring at No. 3 despite the string of low scores. Over the last three weeks, Gill has repaid the faith shown in him.
As Rohit and Gill walked back unbeaten for lunch, everyone in the stands were on their feet. They knew they had witnessed something special. Even the England team knew, Stokes, while appreciating his bowlers for their effort, ensured the Indian duo were walking ahead and crossed the ropes before he and the others did the same.
That session was a testament to India’s present and the future, and it, understandably, took something special to bring an end to it. Stokes, who had not bowled in a competitive environment for 251 days, bowled a perfect outswinger to castle Rohit before Anderson’s inswinger removed Gill. While England could not get back in the game — India batted through the day to finish at 473/8 — it was the stand between Rohit (103) and Gill (110) that ensured the hosts remained on top. And it’s worth a lot more than the 171 they put on.
