Rishabh Pant has briefly got the opportunity to lead India twice in the second Test match against England in Birmingham and he has been very active on both occasions. Pant, who started as captain on Day 2 as regular skipper Shubman Gill did not straightaway come out to the field for the first two overs after his record-breaking marathon 269-run knock, he did a superb job when Gill was again off the field for a short while in the final session of Day 3.
Pant, the designated vice-captain of Team India, took over the leadership when Gill was off the field in the middle of an excellent spell from Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep with the second new ball. In the penultimate ball of the 88th over, Siraj got one to jag back in at Brydon Carse, who played it with his bat and pad close together but appeared to have missed.
Siraj went up in a huge appeal but umpire Saikat shook his head. The India pacer was convinced that it was pad first. But when is he not? Taking a DRS based on Siraj's excitement is the last thing that a captain would want to do. But it appeared that Pant himself was quite sure that it was pad first. He signalled for the DRS.
As the third umpire was checking the ball tracking, India captain Shubman Gill ran back onto the field to join his teammates in a huddle. The replays showed that the bat was not involved and that the ball pitched in line. The impact was in line, and it would have gone on to crash into the leg stump.
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{{/usCountry}}As the third umpire was checking the ball tracking, India captain Shubman Gill ran back onto the field to join his teammates in a huddle. The replays showed that the bat was not involved and that the ball pitched in line. The impact was in line, and it would have gone on to crash into the leg stump.
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{{/usCountry}}Umpire Saikat was asked to reverse his decision to out and Siraj screamed his lungs out. Gill was seen giving a big hug to Siraj.
"It was Rishabh Pant who actually took the review. Shubman Gill came charging in and gave Siraj a warm hug for handling the DRS call in his absence. That was a great review," said former England captain Nasser Hussain in commentary.
Siraj went bang bang in his next over to return with stunning figures of 6 for 70. This was his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Siraj (6/70) struck vital blows in the morning session, dismissing Joe Root (22) and Ben Stokes (0), while Akash Deep (4/88) broke a 303-run partnership between Brook (158) and Smith (184 not out) by getting rid of the former in the post-tea session. Akash then got rid of Chris Woakes for 5 runs to reduce England 395/7, before Siraj wiped out the tail as India bowled England out for 407, taking a big lead of 180 runs.
For England, Jamie Smith (184*) and Harry Brook (158) did all the work with the bat with a remarkable 300-plus partnership for the sixth wicket.