Shubman Gill, Jaiswal help India set up run-filled Day 1 at Edgbaston amid selection backlash

Team India will be mighty pleased with their effort on the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday, July 2, against England, while all the talks centred around the tourists' selection. India were sent in to bat again by Ben Stokes, fresh off his team making a mockery of a 371-run chase on Leeds road last week. The visitors, on the other hand, were buoyed by a deep batting line-up and hence, were able to score a volume of runs at a certain tempo and ended the day on 310 runs.

India would have liked to lose one less wicket, but still, the unbeaten 99-run partnership for the sixth wicket is a welcome change from the two lower-order collapses at Headingley. The wicket was on the flatter side and hence, Yashasvi Jaiswal could go for his shots. KL Rahul was a bit watchful and was caught in his crease by Chris Woakes.

The confidence that a long batting line-up provides was visible in the



approach from Jaiswal and then Karun Nair, who played some sumptuous drives at the start of his innings at No 3. Nair's stay was cut short by a brute of a delivery from Brydon Carse, who again extracted spongy bounce from the surface, which he did in the second innings in Leeds before Jaiswal got into his own.

There were odd flashy drives, but the southpaw remained solid behind the ball throughout his innings. Jaiswal brought up a superb fifty and his approach gave skipper Shubman Gill some time to settle in. 

Ben Stokes, the England skipper, broke the partnership out of nowhere on a short and wide delivery, asking to be hit. Jaiswal, who was late on the shot and edged it to the keeper. Losing Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy in quick succession reignited the fears from last week but Ravindra Jadeja provided the calmness from the other end to Gill, who wasn't looking to take many risks.