Manchester, July 26: Skipper Shubman Gill overcame a tough examination to hit his eighth Test fifty and be unbeaten on 52 off 80 balls as India reached 86/2 in 29 overs and trail England by 225 runs at tea on day four of fourth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Gill and KL Rahul, who has held one end firm with 30 not out, survived a few close calls to bat magnificently in a wicketless second session, while sharing an unbroken partnership of 86 runs off 169 balls. Gill’s solidity, especially on the drives, along with Rahul’s calmness meant India managed to weather the storm after losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and B Sai Sudharsan to ducks.

The session began with Gill surviving two lbw shouts in four balls in the first over off Jofra Archer. Rahul, with his ability to absorb pressure, punched Archer for four before Gill, who stood outside the crease, cut, punched and carved Chris Woakes for three boundaries.

When Brydon Carse came in, Gill unfurled two beautiful on-drives for consecutive boundaries. After a decisive Rahul creamed Woakes for four, Gill drove Archer through cover for four, before upper-cutting him for a stunning boundary and using his wrists well to cut Liam Dawson for four.

Gill could have been out on 46 when Dawson dropped a tough catch at gully off Carse’s bowling, and went on to raise his fifty just before tea break came, with Ben Stokes not bowling at all due to left leg concerns.

During the second session, Gill went past Virat Kohli’s tally of 655 runs in the series against England in 2016 and is now well in sight of surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's record of most runs as an Indian captain in a Test series (732). Each time Gill has reached fifty in this series, he's converted it into a century and the remaining four sessions in this game will tell if he will do it yet again.

Brief Scores: India 358 and 86/2 in 29 overs (Shubman Gill 52 not out, KL Rahul 30 not out; Chris Woakes 2-25) trail England 669 in 157.1 overs (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141; Ravindra Jadeja 4-143, Washington Sundar 2-107) by 225 runs

--IANS

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