Rishabh Pant was caught on the stump mic warning Shubman Gill against England ploy of reverse swing on the opening day of the first Test on Friday at Headingly in Leeds. On a day dominated by the Indians, Pant’s warning came towards the end of the day during the 60th over of the innings, bowled by England spinner Shoaib Bashir.
“Gilly, ball ban gaya hai. Banaya hai inhone abhi…(Gilly, the ball have been made, they made it now),” Pant was heard saying to his captain. Pant’s ‘ball ban gaya’ remark refers to the process of turning the ball enough to make the red cherry it swing reverse.
Expectedly, England captain Ben Stokes came into bowl the next over in an attempt to make the ball do the talking. Earlier, Pant had a playful chatter with Stokes after the Indian danced down the track on just his second ball to smash the England captain for a boundary.
Yashasvi Jaiswal steals the show in Leeds
Earlier, the day belonged to India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who marked his first Test innings in England with a superb century. Jaiswal, first stitched a 91-run stand with KL Rahul for the first wicket before a 129-run stand for the third wicket with captain Shubman Gill.
Jaiswal was finally dismissed for 101, clean bowled by Stokes, off 159 balls, which included 16 hits to the boundary and a lone six. The left-hander appeared to suffer several bouts of cramp before he went to 99 with two superb boundaries off Brydon Carse.
A quick single took an elated Jaiswal to a 144-ball hundred – his fifth century in 20 Tests and third against England. Notably, Jaiswal had both his previous centuries against England into double hundreds in 2024.
Before play both teams and the match officials observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of an Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed all but one of 242 people on board, with players also wearing black armbands as a mark of respect.
