The moment of shared pain came in the first hour. Ben Stokes had already bowled four overs with a grimace, exuding weapons-grade main-character energy, constantly having to massage the source of discomfort by his right shoulder. His heart was still intact, though, as he burst through the crease. He had Shubman Gill dropped on 81 and dismissed the resolute KL Rahul for 90 with an lbw scuttler, the first wicket in more than two sessions.
Gill, unbeaten on 90, faced up for the first ball of Stokes’s fifth over. He would have been wary of the one bound to keep low, ready for pretty much any ball after facing 192 deliveries and spending two days in the field before that. But then came the explosion, the ball deflecting off his glove into the lid. The bat dropped, the helmet came off, the right hand his only concern. Stokes, even with this victory of sorts, looked broken. The pair could easily have fallen into an embrace like two punched-up heavyweights after going 12 rounds.
Except both had to go on. Gill recovered and got to three figures – his fourth hundred of the series – launched his roar, then kissed and raised his bat. He had a look that said he was up for more, and a forward defence that has irritated England over the past month. It was natural to think of Ricky Ponting on this ground 20 years ago, another captain holding on for his team to secure the draw. But an awkward swish outside off against Jofra Archer brought the edge before lunch and sent him away for 103. England were ready to wrap up the series.
Gill has had a peculiar summer, extraordinary batting feats to go with the stresses of his new role. With his hundred, he joined Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar, the only other two captains to hit four tons in a series. Gill is the first to do so away from home. He began this series with the reputation of a white-ball virtuoso still waiting to master the red. He will head to its conclusion with more records in danger, confirmation that he belongs at No 4, continuing the great lineage. Before him, Virat Kohli, before him, Sachin Tendulkar.
But there’s the brutality of being captain, too. Maybe there’s been some respite for Gill when he has batted during this series, just the ball to focus on and none of the other noise. His side have been particularly muddled in this Test. They welcomed back the No 3 dropped after the first Test and, once again, favoured a struggling seamer over the brilliance of Kuldeep Yadav, a wrist-spinner whose continued absence has hurt not only India but the spectacle of this series, too. Gill waited an age to introduce the drift of Washington Sundar in England’s first innings, a wasted opportunity after the off-spinner’s excellence at Lord’s. This is still a side trying to work it all out after the departure of giants, Kohli to go with Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin in retirement.
Is it harsh to discuss flaws when Gill has done what he’s done? That’s just how this thing works. As Liam Dawson twirled away in his first Test in eight years, tasked with winning it on the final day, voices in the commentary box rightly honed in on what he was getting wrong, lines and lengths questioned, the comeback story quickly forgotten. The demands are high, particularly when you reach the level of Gill’s office.
What Gill’s side does still have is fight with the bat. Ravindra Jadeja showed it at Lord’s when he tried to win it in ones, only for late heartbreak at the other end. But he had a more capable partner this time, Sundar determined to stay the course and watch England combust, shrugs to go with hands on heads, the back half of the final day somehow devoid of any real drama. The hosts were having to contend with that unfamiliar result: a draw.
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As we entered the final 15 overs, the side that began Sunday dreaming of survival were happy to keep carrying on, centuries still on for both southpaws. Stokes fed India Harry Brook’s pies to form a bizarre scene as Jadeja tucked in, finally hitting a hundred after four half-centuries in the series. Sundar still wanted to show off his forward defence before getting to his maiden Test century off 206 balls. They wanted to bat, bat and bat, just as Gill has done all series, a side playing in their captain’s image.
