Birmingham, July 5 (IANS) England have been set a mammoth target of 608 runs to win the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series after India captain Shubman Gill hit a majestic 161 off 162 deliveries to help the visitors declare their second innings at 427/6 in 83 overs at the Edgbaston here on Saturday.

Gill, yet again, stepped up with his elegant strokeplay to hit 13 fours and eight sixes in what was his eighth Test hundred, fifth against England, and third one in his fourth innings as India’s Test captain. With an aggregate of 430 runs, Gill has become the second-highest run-scorer in a single Test match after England’s Graham Gooch (456 runs) and is also the first player to score 200 and 150 in the same Test match.

He was ably supported by fifties from KL Rahul (55), Rishabh Pant (65), and Ravindra Jadeja (69 not out) to give England a very stiff run chase, which looks way tougher compared to their Bazball standards. The final session began with Jadeja smashing over Shoaib Bashir’s head for a straight six on the very first ball he faced.

Gill continued to be at his run-making best by smacking Chris Woakes for a six and two fours, before he and Jadeja took a boundary each off Bashir. Jadeja then cut Joe Root away for four through backward point to bring up the second half-century of this game off 94 balls.

After Jadeja swept Gill for four, Gill slog-swept Joe Root for consecutive sixes, before the former cleared the mid-off fielder for another boundary. Gill got his 150 up by executing a slog-sweep off Root to perfection, before Ollie Pope lost sight of a top-edge to give him another boundary.

Gill then swung Bashir over midwicket for six, before his attempt to get another maximum resulted in him mistiming back to the bowler, as he walked off to a standing ovation for his knock of 161.

After Nitish Kumar Reddy holed out to long-off against Root, Washington Sundar hit the part-timer for a four and six before declaration came from India to have a crack at a tired England line-up.

Brief scores:

India 587 and 427/6 dec in 83 overs (Shubman Gill 161, Rishabh Pant 65, KL Rahul 55, Ravindra Jadeja 69 not out; Josh Tongue 2-93, Shoaib Bashir 2-119) lead England 407 by 484 runs

–IANS

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