India's Shubman Gill and Akash Deep humiliate England to tie cricket Test series

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It was not so long ago when England found it practically impossible to bring down the fortress known as India.

Known for its fortresses across the country, India also solidified its cricket pitches and it remained almost unbeatable.

India came under fire for instructing its ground curators to doctor the pitches and that meant spinning wickets. After all, India always produced some of the world’s finest twirlers and they spun out the visitors.

England denied ever allowing their curators to doctor the pitches to their advantage while Australia, on the other hand, didn’t ever have to worry about their pitches. They are all geared for pace, glorious pace.

So, after suffering that thrashing by India at Edgbaston, England’s Kiwi coach Brendon McCallum picked up the phone and ordered the curators at Lord’s, the venue for the crucial third Test that starts on Thursday, to spice up the pitch.

England and McCallum were embarrassed by the 336-run defeat – one of the heaviest the country has suffered in recent times – and the coach and his captain Ben Stokes came under attack by the English press for the excuses they made. McCullum asked the curators for “something with a bit more pace, a bit more bounce and maybe a little bit of sideways, hopefully.”

McCallum added England suffered that ignominy because the pitch at Edgbaston resembled “a sub-continental-type surface” and later admitted that he and his skipper Ben Stokes had erred in choosing to bowl after winning the coin toss.

Since Lord’s will be prepared for pace, one can expect England to introduce Gus Atkinson and the super-fast Jofra Archer to the attack. Atkinson returns to action after a hamstring injury while Archer hasn’t played Test cricket in some four years.

That means two of the three who were in that Edgbaston debacle — Chris Woakes, Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse — will have to make way.

Several English critics have questioned McCullum’s decision to bring back both Atkinson and Archer, who are still recovering from their injuries, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

But all said and done, England was totally outclassed by a visiting team that was firing on all cylinders even without its star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. who is being used sparingly as he nurses a bad back.

He will be back at Lord’s and that is something England won’t look forward to facing a man considered the best seamer in the world.

But back to Edgbaston, where India’s new skipper Shubman Gill was in majestic form as he rattled off a double century in the first innings and then carried his bat for another three figures in the second innings.

India clobbered 587 and 427 for six while England was dismissed for 427 and 271.

India’s opener Yashasvi Jaiswal made a superb 87, skipper Gill carved out a brilliant 267, all-rounder Ajay Jadeja clobbered 89 and Washington Sundar weighed in with 42.

In the second innings, Gill plundered 161, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant 65 and Jadeja 69.

Set the monumental task of 608 runs for victory, only wicket-keeper Jimmy Smith with 88 looked comfortable against the attack of Akash Deep, who captured six wickets to complete a 10-wicket haul.

His new ball partner, Mohammad Siraj, was India’s hero in the first innings with a haul of six wickets.

Smith was brilliant in the first innings as well with an unbeaten 184 and Harry Brook clobbered 158.

Fast bowler Deep was precise and bowled a tight line throughout that troubled England.

All this talk about a “sub-continental surface” made no sense at all as India’s fast bowlers and spinners managed to use the pitch to their satisfaction while the England bowlers failed miserably.

Apart from Deep’s heroics, all the talk has revolved around Gill, who already has scored 585 runs in the two Tests and he stands in line to break the late Aussie Don Bradman’s 88-year-old record of amassing 810 runs in five Tests in the 1936-37 series.

Gill, of course, has become the first batsman in Test history to make scores of 250 and 150 in the same match and now sits second behind England’s Graham Gooch (456 against India in 1990) for the most runs by a batsman in a single Test.

Now all eyes will be on Lord’s as England will be looking for redemption.

LARA’S MARK ALIVE

South Africa skipper Wiaan Mulder came within 33 runs of getting his name in the game’s cricketing annals, but decided against it. Mulder was on 367, the fifth-highest Test score, and instead of toppling West Indies great Brian Lara from the top, he decided to declare the innings closed. Lara carved out an unbeaten 400 versus England in Antigua in 2004 and Mulder said he had no regrets of not chasing down that score. “Brian Lara is a legend. He got 400 or 401 or something against England and for someone to keep that record, it is special,” said a classy Mulder. South Africa won the Test versus Zimbabwe by an innings and 236 runs.

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