Gill, Rahul stabilise India after early jolt

India Stabilize After Early Jolt

Shubman Gill and KL Rahul brought stability to India's second innings in the Manchester Test with a composed partnership in the second session. Following a frenetic three-over burst before Lunch, Gill notched up a half-century and, along with Rahul, stitched an unbroken stand that took India to 86/2 at Tea on Day 4, still trailing by 225 runs.

Gill and Rahul got a few boundaries at the start of the second session, but Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer bowled testing lines to keep the batters on their toes. Gill was hit on the glove by Archer and there were a couple of more lbw enquiries against him when he was struck on the pad.

Brydon Carse then bowled in tandem with Woakes, finding enough movement both ways to trouble the batters. But Gill and Rahul eased the pressure a bit with classy boundaries as they raised a half-century stand. Gill took on Archer to play a lovely cover drive and executed an upper cut as well for two fours.

Gill had a lucky break as he went for a drive off a Carse delivery pitched outside off and was dropped by Dawson at gully. Rahul then top-edged a sweep off Dawson and luckily for him, it landed clear of the fielders.

Earlier, Ben Stokes led the charge with a brilliant 141, helping the hosts post a mammoth 669 and stretch their lead to a daunting 311. India had hoped to wrap up the tail quickly on a grey Manchester morning, but Stokes had other plans.

Brief Scores:
India 358 & 86/2 (Shubman Gill 52*, KL Rahul 30*; Chris Woakes 2-25) trail England 669 (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141; Ravindra Jadeja 4-143) by 225 runs.