Sawt Falasteen - England in Deep trouble after India captain Gill's superb double century

Gill's 269 was the cornerstone of India's first-innings 587 all out on the second day of the second Test, with England 77-3 at stumps -- a huge deficit of 510 runs.

Deep was only featuring after India rested the outstanding Jasprit Bumrah, the world's top-ranked Test bowler but only due to play in three games of this five-match series to minimise the effects of a back injury.

The 28-year-old Deep conceded 12 runs in his first over, with Zak Crawley hitting two fours.

But Deep's second over was a very different story, the paceman's double-wicket maiden leaving England in dire straits at 13-2.

He had Ben Duckett, fresh from a superb 149 in England's five-wicket win in the first Test at Headingley, edging to third slip where Gill capped an already brilliant day for himself by holding a fine catch.

Next ball Ollie Pope fell for a golden duck when, closing the face of the bat, he nicked Deep to second slip, with KL Rahul clinging on at the second attempt.

Joe Root survived the hat-trick delivery.

But India, made to pay for dropping several catches in the cordon at Headingley, then held another when Mohammed Siraj had Crawley edging to Karun Nair at first slip, with England now 25-3.

Root (18 not out) and Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook (30 not out) prevented further collapse with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 52.

But the day belonged to India, bidding for just their fourth series win in England after triumphs in 1971, 1986 and 2007.

- Majestic Gill -

Earlier, the 25-year-old Gill, in just his second Test as captain, set a new record for the highest score by an India batsman in a Test in England, surpassing the great Sunil Gavaskar's 221 at the Oval back in 1979.

Gill also received excellent support from spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja (89) and Washington Sundar in partnerships of 203 and 144 for the sixth and seventh wickets, respectively.

Already a Test-best 168 not out at lunch, Gill continued to bat in near flawless fashion in the afternoon.

He was especially severe on Shoaib Bashir, cover-driving the off-spinner for four and lofting him for six, with the bowler largely unthreatening against frontline batsmen in a return of 3-167 in 45 overs.

A hooked single off fast bowler Josh Tongue, whose two wickets cost 119 runs, took Gill to 200, with the elated skipper bowing to a capacity crowd in celebration.

England brought on part-time medium-pacer Brook in a desperate bid to 'buy' a wicket but Gill struck him for three successive fours -- the best a straight drive.

But it was occasional off-spinner Root, however, who bowled the recalled Sundar with a delivery that turned and bounced.

By that stage Gill had bettered his Test-best score for the second match in a row after making 147 at Headingley.

His marathon Edgbaston innings of some eight-and-a-half hours finally ended with a rare false shot when a tired pull off Tongue found Pope at square leg, with India now 574-8.

Several England players shook Gill's hand after he had faced 387 balls, including 30 fours and three sixes.

India, again sent into bat by England captain Ben Stokes, resumed on 310-5, with Gill 114 not out and Jadeja 41 not out in a stand worth 99 at Wednesday's close after Yashasvi Jaiswal's entertaining 87.

Gill had already become just the seventh player to score a century in each of his first two (or more) Tests as captain.

His was also, statistically at least, the most secure Test hundred on record in England since analysts Cricviz began keeping such records in 2006.

On Wednesday, Gill's false shot percentage was just 3.5 percent. The average when making a hundred in England is 12 percent.

But India, batting in ideal sunny conditions on Thursday, now wanted even more runs from Gill and Jadeja after collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 cost them dear at Headingley -- and they got them.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST