'Handed' Pant's Runs Back To England: Shubman Gill's Captaincy Blasted

India are on the backfoot in the fourth Test against England, despite a heroic half-century by Rishabh Pant. A mammoth 166-run partnership between openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley helped England score 225/2 at the end of the play on the second day against India in the ongoing fourth Test of the five-match series at Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday. England trail India's total of 358 by just 133 runs.

The Ben Stokes-led side began the third and final session of the second day from 77/0 with Duckett (43*) and Crawley (33*) unbeaten on the crease. On the first ball of the 19th over, bowled by right-arm seamer Shardul Thakur, Duckett brought his fifty as he hit a boundary. This boundary also brought up the hundred of the side. In the 21st over, Crawley completed his half-century as he slammed a boundary on the bowling of Shardul.

In the 29th over, the England cricket team touched the 150-run mark as Duckett hit a boundary on the bowling of Mohammed Siraj.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain was not at all happy with Gill's captaincy.

“Slightly changing conditions, but they bowled very poorly. A change in overhead conditions doesn't make you bowl both sides of the wicket. Too many balls on the pads. Captain's decisions… didn't quite agree with, to be honest. Kamboj wasn't in the squad a week ago, to bring him into the team and give him a new ball ahead of Siraj… seems odd,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.

“I would've gone for Siraj for a short burst, then switched him to the other end to follow Bumrah. We've all been talking about the green channel on the strip across… this is the end where Stokes bowled and got his fifer, and got uneven bounce and sideways movement. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”

“Rishabh Pant went out there on one leg, and got valuable runs today. They've just handed those runs back to England,” said the former England captain, as he was visibly displeased with Gill's leadership in the session.

England lost their first wicket in the 32nd over at the score of 166 as left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Zak Crawley (84 runs off 113 balls).

After Crawley's dismissal, right-hand batter Zak Crawley came out to bat in the middle.

At the score of 197, England lost their second wicket. Debutant Anshul Kamboj grabbed his maiden Test wicket as he sent Duckett (94 runs from 100 balls) back to the pavilion,

The team completed the 200-run mark in the 39th over as PPope slammed a boundary on the bowling of Kamboj.

At the end of Day 2, England finished at 225/2 in their 46 overs. Before the end of play, both Pope and Root built an unbeaten 28(47) partnership.

For the Shubman Gill-led side, one wicket each was grabbed by Kamboj (1/48 in 10 overs) and Jadeja (1/37 in 8 overs) in their respective spells.

Earlier in the second session, the Shubman Gill-led side from 321/6 with Rishabh Pant (39*) and Washington Sundar (20*) unbeaten on the crease.

In the 110th over, Team India lost two wickets as Sundar (27) and debutant Anshul Kamboj (0) were sent back to the pavilion by England skipper Ben Stokes when the side's score was 337.

Pant completed his half-century on the first ball of the 112th over as he slammed a boundary on the bowling of Stokes.

At the score of 349, India lost the wicket of Pant (54 runs off 75 balls) as he was cleaned up by right-arm seamer Jofra Archer. In the same over, the Shubman Gill-led side touched the 350-run mark.

After Pant's dismissal, right-hand batter Mohammed Siraj (5*) came out to bat in the middle.

On the first ball of the 115th over, India were bowled out at the score of 358 as right-hand batter Jasprit Bumrah (4) was dismissed by Archer.

For the hosts, the pick of the bowlers was Stokes, who bagged a fifer in his spell of 24 overs, where he conceded 72 runs in his spell. Three wickets were snapped by Archer (3/73 in 26.1 overs), and one wicket each was grabbed by right-arm seamer Chris Woakes (1/66 in 23 overs) & left-arm spinner Liam Dawson (1/45 in 15 overs) in their respective spells.

In reply to India's 358, openers Duckett and Crawley came out to bat on the crease.

Both players started off the innings carefully, but later attacked the Indian bowlers, especially right-arm pacer Siraj (0/26 in 4 overs) and Kamboj (0/29 in 5 overs). Bumrah was also a little bit expensive as he gave away 22 runs in his first five overs.

In the first session, the visitors managed to add just 57 runs in 22 overs, losing two important wickets along the way. Jofra Archer, who looked sharp from the start, gave England the perfect start by dismissing Ravindra Jadeja for 20.

Shardul Thakur, known for his fighting spirit, showed great patience at the other end. He absorbed the pressure, punished the loose balls, and built a useful stand before England skipper Ben Stokes got the breakthrough by dismissing him for a well-made 41.

The biggest moment of the session came when Rishabh Pant walked out to bat, limping and clearly in discomfort, yet determined. As he made his way to the middle, the crowd erupted with a huge roar. It was a sight that lifted Indian fans' spirits instantly.

Brief Score: India 358 all out (Sai Sudarshan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58; Ben Stokes 5/72) vs England 225/2 (Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 84; Ravindra Jadeja 1/37).

With inputs from IANS

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