Manchester, July 27 (IANS) Shubman Gill hit his ninth Test hundred and fourth of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series while KL Rahul hit 90. But both batters falling in the first session meant India reached 223/4 in 89 overs and trail England by 88 runs at lunch on day five’s play at Old Trafford.

It was an attritional session where 49 runs came off 26 overs. India were resilient at the start, but losing key batters in Rahul and Gill means they need to salvage a draw in the remaining 64 overs, especially with not so much batting to follow, though Rishabh Pant arrived at the stadium on crutches.

For England, skipper Ben Stokes, despite his shoulder troubles, bowled an eight-over spell that included Rahul’s scalp, while Jofra Archer took out a solid Gill. He could have Ravindra Jadeja out for zero if Joe Root hadn’t dropped a touch chance at slip. The start of the session saw Stokes bringing himself on and immediately got into variable bounce, including extracting an lbw shout off Gill.

Gill got a life on 81 when Ollie Pope dropped his catch at short cover off Stokes’ bowling. More despair was in store for England when they took a review on Rahul sweeping off Dawson, but replays showed ball missing stumps, meaning the hosts’ lost their final review of this innings.

Stokes’ relentlessness was finally rewarded when his unplayable nip-backer skid on and kept low to strike Rahul’s pad to trap him lbw for 90, as the 188-run third-wicket stand with Gill came to an end. Gill then pulled Jofra Archer for four, before bringing up his gritty and patient century with a single off Woakes.

But with 15 minutes left for lunch, Archer provided a huge breakthrough for England when Gill suffered a lapse of concentration and poked at his wide outside the off stump delivery to nick behind to Jamie Smith, as the Indian skipper fell for 103.

Archer almost had two out of two wickets if Root hadn’t fumbled at slip, giving Jadeja a life on nought. With Washington Sundar unbeaten on 21, Jadeja has a big task in joining forces with his fellow spin-bowling all-rounder and forge a resistance which helps in saving the game for India.

Brief Scores: India 358 and 223/4 in 89 overs (Shubman Gill 103, KL Rahul 90; Chris Woakes 2-57, Ben Stokes 1-12) trail England 669 in 157.1 overs (Joe Root 150; Ravindra Jadeja 4-143) by 88 runs

–IANS