England’s Harry Brook and India skipper Shubman Gill engaged in a bit of a friendly banter during Day 4 of the 2nd Test match between the two sides at Edgbaston on Saturday with the Englishman cheekily asking the India skipper to declare at 450 due to the fact that there is a forecast of rain on the 5th Day.
“450 declare? Shubman, it’s raining tomorrow. Half day. Afternoon, it’s raining,” Brook said which got a swift response from Gill who said, “Bad luck for us.” In reply, Brook laughed and said, “Take the draw.”
In the match, Gill turned himself into a virtual ‘Run Machine’, smashing his third hundred in four innings to extend India’s lead to a healthy 484 runs at tea on day four of the second Test. Gill changed gears post the lunch break to push the scoring rate before completing his second hundred of the game at the stroke of tea. India added 127 runs from 30 overs in the session.
He brought the rare milestone with a single off Bashir in the penultimate over before the tea break as India reached 304 for four in the second innings. Following his double in the first innings, the hundred celebrations were not over the top, signaling his focus on levelling the series.
Fancy a declaration, skipper? 😏 #HarryBrook‘s playful banter with #ShubmanGill had everyone in splits —
Trying to charm the Indian captain into a cheeky call? 😂#ENGvIND 👉 2nd TEST, Day 4 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar ➡ https://t.co/2wT1UwEcdi pic.twitter.com/xTJJYhAGRk— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 5, 2025
In the process, he also also surpassed the great Sunil Gavaskar to tally the most runs by an Indian in a Test match. Gavaskar had amassed 344 runs in one of the Tests against West Indies back in 1971 at Port of Spain.
Gill shared a 110-run stand with Rishabh Pant (65 off 58) who exhibited breathtaking strokeplay and departed in a fitting fashion as he lost control of his bat in his attempt to whack Shoaib Bashir out of the park.
If Gill was the attacked by English bowlers in the morning session, he took the onus upon himself to take the attack back to the opposition camp in the second one.
Josh Tongue tried the short ball against Gill at the start of the session and Gill was happy to pull it over fine leg on two occasions. His knock included a flat batted boundary off Tongue while the Indian captain showed total disdain when Bashir was in operation.
