Gill's 265* takes India to 564/7 at Tea

Shubman Gill's majestic 265* was the highlight of a fast-scoring middle session for India on Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test on Thursday (July 3). The visitors continued to pile on easy runs as 145 came off the session at 4.67 RPO, for the loss of only one wicket. Gill continued from where he'd left off in the morning and led the way through the 144-run stand with Washington Sundar, who chipped in a handy 42 to keep England at bay for the majority of the session. Unflappable throughout the day, the Indian skipper took full advantage of the conditions as he made the hosts sweat on the flat wicket that had little to offer to the bowlers.

Washington did face some early music early on in his innings, before Lunch, but overcame that beautifully to counter-attack when England deployed the short-ball tactic against the left-hander. After taking out Ravindra Jadeja with a bouncer in the morning session, Tongue used more of it to unsettle the all-rounder who is playing his first game of the series. Washington awkwardly fended one off his body, that evaded a dive from Bashir at fine-leg, to run into the fence and immediately after dismissively pulled one high into the stands in the same region.

Tongue persisted with more short stuff and, at the start of his next over, Gill pulled one behind square for a single that made him only the third Indian to notch up a double ton in England while also becoming the second youngest India captain to do so roughly two months short of his 26th birthday. He continued to score freely off Bashir, forcing England's hand to make a bowling change. However, Harry Brook was welcomed into the attack with equal disdain - a hat-trick of boundaries that included a cut and two beautifully-timed straight drives by the Indian skipper.

Gill took India past 500 just after the hourly drinks break, making it the sixth instance of a visiting team breaching the mark in an Edgbaston Test and first since South Africa in 2003, before also raising the hundred of his partnership with Washington. Bashir returned into the attack and so did Gill's attacking ways as he skipped down the track to loft him down the ground for a maximum before forcing part-timer Brook off the attack with an 11-run over where he added two more boundaries to his tally. He reached the 250 milestone with the second of those, becoming only the sixth Indian to do so.

Desperate to break the partnership, Stokes threw the ball to Root with Tea around the corner and the former captain did not disappoint. After a vital hand of 42, Washington was cleaned up by Root who knocked back his middle-stump to give his team a breather. That strike remained England's only success in the session that belonged to the visitors, who raced to 564 for 7 with their skipper poised to convert his fantastic knock into a rare triple.

Brief scores: India 564/7 (Shubman Gill 265*, Washington Sunday 42; Joe Root 1-20) vs England