CHENNAI: The timing wasn’t off. And it was the first word Ravi Shastri uttered on air at Edgbaston on Friday. Having spent the last English summer from the Indian dressing room, Shastri had just slipped into the Sky Sports commentary box, when Shubman Gill, who had looked the part so far in his brief stay, needlessly poked a James Anderson delivery that was almost on the seventh stump.
This was the sort of shot, the Indian openers – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul – had avoided last summer. Having scored four boundaries, it was perhaps a touch of over-confidence that made Gill play a delivery, he should have shouldered arms all day, on overcast conditions. And Shastri summed it up with what was a word that was entangled right-through his stint as head coach. “The intent was missing,” he would call on air, referring to what was missing from Gill’s shot selection there.
As India explored the option of moving away from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane at the end of the last World Test Championship cycle, two of the three players they had narrowed down were Gill and Shreyas Iyer. The two, with Rishabh Pant in the mix – who rescued India on Day 1 with a typically characteristic 146 off just 111 balls (19x4, 4x6) – were the ones India looked to compliment Virat Kohli, Rohit and Rahul. In an era where pitches had become more bowler friendly, teams would do anything to get batters who play flamboyant brand of cricket, to bail them out of trouble. Hanging around and building blocks would work, but on pitches where there is assistance to seamers, spinners, you need batters, who can break the resistance.
And thanks to injury and Covid issues, India had a chance to field all three such batters in this Test. Incidentally, they were the ones who showed the intent that was needed, especially when the English attack led by ageless Anderson had their tails up under overcast conditions.
After Gill’s dismissal, Pujara’s return lasted all of 46 balls as Anderson found his edge, which settled in the cordon. Vihari, who tried to play late and from the crease, was done in by the late seam movement Matthew Potts. And soon Kohli, too, perished, trying to withdraw the ball late – indecisiveness caused by the late movement from Potts – only to inside edge it back to the stumps. While Iyer’s stay, too, was brief, he had three boundaries in 15 balls. And, at 98/5, India were in dire straits.
But, Pant had other ideas. For a batter who gets castigated for playing too many shots including outrageous, high-risk ones, he showed what he could do, if he was allowed to be dared. For company, he had Ravindra Jadeja, who looked solid as ever.
With the overcast conditions slowly giving way, Pant took total control. Out came the fierce cuts and those delicate cover-drives and straight-drives. Boundaries not enough? Let me thrill you, he said, stepping down the pitch to hit Anderson straight back on multiple occasions. Against left-arm spinner Jack Leach, he repeatedly came down to hit anywhere between long-on and mid-wicket. When Potts tested him with short balls, he pulled them without any fuss, but by keeping the ball firmly on the ground by rolling the wrists. If all of these were not daring, he brought out the reverse-sweep of Anderson. He was there doing it all, even falling down in the follow-through and diving full-length to bring up his fifth Test century – his second in England – bailing India out of trouble as Jadeja, too, brought up a priceless fifty.
From starting the day with five fielders in the slip cordon, England resorted to a spread-out field in the final hour as runs flowed for India in the final session. Although Joe Root ended the 222-run stand for the sixth-wicket of 239 balls, removing Pant, it was India who were all smiles at the end of the day.
India (1st Innings): Gill c Crawley b Anderson 17, Pujara c Crawley b Anderson 13, Vihari lbw b Potts 20, Kohli b Potts 11, Pant c Crawley b Root 146, Iyer c Billings b Anderson 15, Jadeja batting 83, Thakur c Billings b Stokes 1, Shami batting 0; Extras: (b 4, lb 16, nb 12) 32; Total: (for 7 wkts in 73 ovs) 338; FoW: 1-27, 2-46, 3-64, 4-71, 5-98, 6-320, 7-323; Bowling: Anderson 19-4-52-3, Broad 15-2-53-0, Potts 17-1-85-2, Leach 9-0-71-0, Stokes 10-0-34-1, Root 3-0-23-1.