It needed an incredible back-tracking catch from Shubman Gill to end Ben Duckett’s innings in England’s first innings in the Dharamsala Test.
India and England kickstarted the fifth and final Test of the series on Thursday morning in the scenic city of Dharamsala. England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first on what was a surface that helped all bowlers but also had good pace in it for the ball to come on nicely to the batters.
England started off in an uncharacteristically cautious manner against a hostile spell from Jasprit Bumrah, who was unlucky to not have dismissed both England openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. Once Bumrah was off, Duckett and Crawley unleashed their shots and put pressure on the hosts.
They forged another half-century stand before Kuldeep Yadav broke it and it required a sensational catch from Shubman Gill. Duckett sized up a full, loopy ball outside the off-stump and went for a slog on the legside, however, he top-edged it on the offside over Shubman Gill who was positioned at the cover spot.
Gill turned around and sprinted for more than 20 meters and gave his best effort by putting in a dive as the ball got down. He never lost the sight of the ball. He managed to cling onto the red cherry even as he fell to the ground and quickly threw the ball back in the air in his celebration.
The crowd erupted for the first time this morning and the Indian players mobbed Shubman Gill to congratulate and praise him for his magnificent effort in completing the catch.
Watch: Shubman Gill takes a stunning catch of Ben Duckett
Meanwhile, England are 100/2 at Lunch, with Kuldeep taking the scalps of Duckett and Pope.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes(c), Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes(w), Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, Mark Wood, James Anderson
