Shubman Gill's abysmal run in the first innings of a Test cricket match continued following his dismissal on the second day of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi.
The 20-year-old off-spinner Shaoib Bashir managed to beat Gill's (38) edge and trap him in front of the stumps. Gill challenged the on-field decision but the umpire's call didn't do him any favour. Since scoring 128 against Australia in Ahmedabad last March, Gill has struggled to string up results and score the 50-run mark in the past nine innings while playing in the first innings. Since that knock, in the first innings of a Test match, Gill has played knocks of 13, 6, 10, 2, 36, 23, 34, 0, and 38 at an average of 26.41. However, in the second innings, he has scored at a stunning average of 40.84. Gill went through a barren run since the conclusion of the World Cup. He struggled during India's Test tour of South Africa. He was retained for the five-match series against England and scored 104 and 91 in the second innings of the second and the third Test respectively. Coming to Day 2's action, India were 219/7 at the close of play. Dhruv Jurel (30) and Kuldeep Yadav (17) were unbeaten on the crease and patiently negated England's attack. Earlier in the day, England were bowled out for 353 with Joe Root unbeaten on 122. The visitors still have a lead of 134 runs. India resumed the post-Tea session at 131/4 with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan unbeaten on scores of 54(96) and 1(7) respectively. Both the batters were able to add on another 30 runs before the hosts lost the wicket of Jaiswal. His 73 runs came from 117 balls and included eight fours and a six. Inside 16 runs, the Rohit Sharma-led side lost the two wickets of batters Sarfaraz Khan (14) and Ravindra Jadeja (12) at 171 and 177 runs respectively. The highest wicket-taker for the Three Lions was young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir who snapped four wickets in his spell of 32 overs while conceding 83 runs. Two wickets were grabbed by left-arm spinner Tom Hartley in his spell of 19 overs. (ANI)
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