India's Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal make tons to leave England toiling in first Test

The Guardian

3 hours ago

India slightly snuck into the ­country four weeks ago, dribs and drabs ­getting an 'A' tour underway before the bulk of the first-teamers landed and started playing intra-squad cricket. The delayed finish to the Indian Premier League commanded eyeballs initially, then the World Test Championship final last week. All told, it was a soft launch.
But on the opening day of the ­summer's marquee series, the ­tourists announced themselves with a flex of their muscles. ­Centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal, 101, and ­Shubman Gill, 127 not out, had driven England to distraction and taken India to 359 for three. Gill's first ­outing as captain had proved an unqualified success and no one was talking about the absences of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
A chastening start for Ben Stokes and his men, therefore, albeit not unfamiliar territory as regards their initial tormentor. Jaiswal notched up 712 runs against them in India last year – including two double ­hundreds – and his image was ­practically burned on to their collective retina by the end. Might his first Test match encounter with the Dukes ball see a change of fortune? The answer, it transpired, was no.
But then Jaiswal is a player who likes to make a strong first ­impression, having compiled a century on debut in the Caribbean, one in his first Test in Australia, and now one on arrival in England. It was some knock, too – the first by an Asian opener at ­Headingley, no less – as he left diligently, cut ­ferociously and drove through the covers with panache.
Indeed, until Stokes castled him after tea with an inswinger that nipped away, Jaiswal's chief ­concern was bouts of cramp in his forearms as he cruised into the 90s. Even then, despite a couple of delays with the physio and obvious pain, he moved to 99 with a flurry of fours off Brydon Carse before a pinched single brought up Test century No 5.
While Jaiswal moved through the gears – 96 balls for his half-­century, only 48 more to double it – Gill started fast and then bedded in. And at 5.44pm, as he caressed Josh Tongue through the covers for four, he became the first Indian since Virat Kohli 11 years ago to make a century in his first innings as captain. Gill's celebration, a punch of the air and guttural roar, was in stark contrast to the serenity that got him there.
At the other end was his vice-­captain, Rishabh Pant, who finished unbeaten on 65. The responsibility of being Gill's new No 2 had ­dampened none of the mischief, either, Pant dancing down the pitch to Stokes ­second ball and clobbering him back over his head for four. In the final over, when thoughts might have turned to safety, he summed up the day as a whole by swatting Chris Woakes for six with a jaw-dropping swivel pull.
This being Headingley, so often a scene of the absurd and a ground where the past six Tests have been won by the side bowling first, ­England will refuse to believe they are snookered. By the same token, sticking a team in under clear skies and seeing them lose only three ­wickets across three sessions was clearly suboptimal.
Both captains wanted to bowl first, however, and the modern way – ­certainly the Stokes and Brendon McCullum way – is not always to do so with an eye on skittling a side cheaply. Against New Zealand at Trent Bridge three years ago, for example, Stokes inserted, saw the tourists rack up 553, and England won by five wickets. India scored 418 at Edgbaston that same summer after being asked to bat first and lost by seven.
Of greater concern was the fact that Stokes was the best of the quicks on show, not simply his figures of two for 43 from 13 overs but by way of obvious threat. Carse flickered at times, even if his solitary removal of KL Rahul before lunch came via a lazy waft, but Tongue was largely ­scattergun and Woakes found ­precious little movement.
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If there was one relative ­success among the frontliners it was ­probably Shoaib Bashir sending down 21 overs with little assistance from the ­surface and holding his own. With an ­economy of 3.1 under the ­overall run-rate of 4.2, the off-­spinner had ­performed a day one role some thought beyond him. Drift was his friend, even if no chances materialised.
It had not taken long for the total at stumps to look possible, India dominating the early exchanges and getting to within touching distance of lunch when Rahul's error on 42 opened up an end. The removal of Sai Sudharsan almost immediately, strangled down leg off Stokes for a four-ball duck on debut, might have appeared a bit fortunate when India walked off at 92 for two but there was clearly a plan behind it.
This was pretty much the only one that came off for England, however, Jaiswal and Gill putting on 129 for the third wicket in an afternoon of toil for the bowlers. Had Carse not ­overstepped, Jaiswal would have been lbw 43 when a yorker hit boot and then bat. And had Ollie Pope hit the stumps with a shy from midwicket, Gill would have been run out for one. Ifs and buts count for little, however, and India have ­unquestionably arrived.