Three centuries by Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant were unable to help India score more than 471. English backed Strong after an hour on Day 2. India was on course to record a gigantic total in its first innings at Headingley, but instead collapsed unexpectedly to be all out on 471 runs. According to Cricbuzz, this innings became one of the lowest all-out totals (471) in Test history to include three individual hundreds. The only other such instances are:
- 475 – South Africa vs England, Centurion 2016
- 494 – Australia vs England, Headingley 1924
- 497 – West Indies vs India, Kolkata 2002
A Dream Beginning
Day 2 started with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant at the crease, just continuing where they left off yesterday (Day 1). Gill was already past a century, and soon after Pant followed with a six to reach his 7th Test century. India also had a good start with Yashasvi Jaiswal playing a good innings, scoring a century earlier. At some stage, India were flying at 430/ 3 and it seemed that the team was going to score a total well over 550 or perhaps 600.
The Outrageous Crash
However, all this changed when Gill was dismissed. In 430/3, India lost their last 7 wickets only to score 41 runs, which was a dramatic collapse to the surprise of the fans, giving England the room to be back into the game. Josh Tongue spearheaded the attack by taking 4 wickets, and with India all out, England captain Ben Stokes captured 4 wickets as well. The ball began to move around more, and England’s bowlers enjoyed the conditions to the fullest.
What went wrong?
This will be a disappointment to India as to such strong batting which failed to give a high score. The inability to finish off with 7 wickets being taken down during 41 runs reflects lack of completion and possibly overconfidence due to an excellent performance at the beginning. The credit has to be given to the bowlers of England who just did not give up and somehow managed to change the situation.
