Our Bureau
Leeds
When Shubman Gill was anointed as the captain of India’s test side, there were a lot of questions raised on his credibility as a captain and if he was the right man for the job. Gill however is showing signs of a good leader as everyone saw one of his plans came to work against England’s wicket-keeper batsman Jamie Smith.
Smith and Harry Brook were stitching up a good partnership and were picking the Indian bowlers apart. Gill decided to construct a plan to get rid of Smith as he set a field heavy on the leg-side. Gill and Prasidh Krishna had a clear plan of bowling short to Smith. Gill had placed undoubtedly India’s best fielder Ravindra Jadeja at deep midwicket anticipating that Smith might end up pulling one in Jadeja’s safe hands.
Gill not only put Jadeja in the deep but also put the debutant, Sai Sudarshan next to him at deep square-leg in order to pack the leg side. Krishna was abiding to his skipper’s plan as he continuously bowled short deliveries to Smith. The English wicket-keeper pulled one out of the ropes beautifully but Krishna and Gill persisted with the plan.
The plan worked as Jamie pulled one in Jadeja’s direction, who initially caught the ball but was going out of the ropes with momentum. That’s when Gill’s masterstroke of putting Sudarshan at square-leg worked as he came running and Jadeja threw the ball in his direction before going out of bounds. Sudarshan completed the catch and India got the set batsman out.
Michael Atherton who was commentating said on air, “The plan has worked for India.” On the other end, Atherton’s partner in the booth, former English captain Nasser Hussain acknowledged the masterstroke and said, “Don’t you love it when a plan comes together.”
England were dismissed yesterday for a score of 465 as Bumrah picked up the last two wickets completing another fifer in the format. India even after a stellar batting performance could only manage to end up with a lead of 6 runs. To tilt the match in their favour India will be looking for another great batting effort to pose a good score at the end of their second innings.
