The second Test between India and England in the ongoing Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy has witnessed some breathtaking performances. Centuries, double centuries, a triple hundred partnership, brilliant cameos, and monstrous sixes — the first four days have seen it all.
Interestingly, if you believe only the batters had a great time on the wicket, you are wrong. The bowlers too rose from the ashes at times and returned with figures that could prove pivotal in the final analysis of the match.
India’s pacer Mohammed Siraj displayed one such performance and picked 6 English wickets in the first innings. His new-ball partner Akashdeep too returned figures of 4 wickets for 88 runs and helped India bundle England out for 407, as the visitors got a healthy lead of 180 runs.
History Made In Birmingham Test
However, among a plethora of records in the Birmingham Test, India completed a feat that has been achieved only five times prior to this in almost 150 years of Test cricket.
Want to know what it is?
For the first time ever, India scored more than 1000 runs in a Test match. This monumental achievement was accomplished in India’s second innings as soon as the they went past 412 runs.
The last time this happened was back in 2006, when Pakistan made more than 1000 runs in a Test against India at Faisalabad. Almost 20 years later, India too etched their name in this list.
In the first innings, the Indian team made a gigantic score of 587 runs and hammered the English bowlers into dust. They backed the performance in the second innings with 427 runs and then declared the innings, as the hosts looked deflated in the field.
Captain Shubman Gill Is Unstoppable
The star in both of India’s innings was the newly-appointed skipper Shubman Gill. He hit 269 runs in the first innings and then continued his rich vein of form by smacking another century, this time a stroke-filled 161 runs. Scoring at a strike rate of almost 100, he belted 8 sixes.
His tally of 430 runs in the match puts him just behind the all-time record of 456 runs in a match — the most someone has ever hit in a Test match across both innings.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja too played a key role in this run fest and scored valuable half-centuries in the match.
When the fifth day of the match begins, India will look to quickly wrap up England’s innings and seal victory.
