CHENNAI: Two days before Shubman Gill walked out for the toss and said India opted to strengthen the batting depth even more for the second Test against England, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate was asked about the lower-order collapses.
The former Dutch captain, in his response, said: "We have (thought about it). When you are 430/3, it is absolutely fine, but when you are 200/5, it is a very different ball game. We are trying to figure it out."
Cut to Wednesday, on a sunny Birmingham afternoon with a pitch not doing much for the bowlers. Ten Doeschate's worst fear came true as the visitors, having gone in with three all-rounders to pad up their depth at the cost of a specialist batter and a wicket-taking bowler, were in fact 211/5 after tea.
Their primary seam-bowling batting all-rounder, Nitish Reddy, had just left alone a Chris Woakes delivery. It came back in off the seam to disturb the stumps. India had lost the first of three all-rounders for just one run and were staring at another collapse. This time, perhaps, even a worse one than that of Headingley where they had at least crossed 400 runs before crumbling. Here, their only hope of that not happening was the Gill.
Having come in at the stroke of lunch, Gill had shown restraint and patience like never before. He knew very well that there were no demons on the surface even though Ben Stokes had opted to bowl first. He also knew that the only way this team becomes his own is if he continues to set the tone with the bat.
It helped that Yashasvi Jaiswal had done his bit when Gill walked in. The left-hander had his fair share of half chances in the first hour, but had made the most of it. He took on everything that was thrown at him, including the hard lengths, directed at his body. Jaiswal, against a packed off-side field, often created room to slash or cut the ball through gully. As many as four boundaries came through the third-man region and three more through point.
Jaiswal's approach meant Gill could take all the time in the world to get his eye in. He had made some minor adjustments to counter Woakes' seam like batting outside the crease, but against Carse, Gill stayed behind and played with an open bat face. Anything that was full and in his zone was met on the front foot with full face of the bat and anything that was marginally short was cut with ease behind square.
Gill had no trouble working singles on the leg side to keep the scoreboard moving and when England did go short, it ended being an easy get away. Jaiswal fell for 87 from 107 balls, slashing at a nothing delivery from Stokes, Rishabh Pant jumped out of the crease and into the trap laid by Shoaib Bashir to be caught at long-on, but Gill wasn't going anywhere.
He chipped away at England a single here, a two there and an occasional boundary time-to-time. First came the fifty, his slowest ever. Then came the crowing moment with a sweep of Joe Root off his 199th ball — a second century in third innings as India captain. This time, he roared even louder than Headingley before bowing down and taking in all the applause. It was a century to savour and cherish, but the job is only half done. For India will need a lot more than 310/5 they are currently on.
