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“Maan Le, Ye Leeds Nahi Hai”: Shubman Gill Convinces Siraj, Leads To Breakthrough vs England

Rajgeeta Yadav

Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj [Source: @nikhil_balaka/X.com]Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj [Source: @nikhil_balaka/X.com]

In the second Test match of India’s five-game series in England, something special unfolded on the field, not just a great delivery, but a great piece of captaincy. India’s young Test captain Shubman Gill showed both courage and cricketing smarts when he guided fast bowler Mohammed Siraj to stick to a plan and it worked perfectly.

Captain Gill’s Bold Decision Pays Off As Siraj Takes Big Wicket

The moment happened on Day 4 of the second Test. England was trying to build their innings, and Siraj was running in hard, but something seemed off. Shubman Gill walked up to him for a quick chat and it was clear from the body language that they didn’t entirely agree on the field placements or how to bowl.

Siraj had his own idea. But Gill was firm. He told Siraj that the pitch was behaving differently from the one in Leeds during the first Test. According to Gill, if Siraj bowled a normal outswinger to the off-side, a wicket was waiting.

In Hindi, Gill was even heard saying: “Mann le! Yeh Leeds wala wicket nahi hai. Normal daal.” (“Trust me! This isn’t like the Leeds pitch. Bowl it normally.”)

[Source: Starsports/X.com][Source: Starsports/X.com]

Siraj finally followed Gill’s instructions. He bowled an outswinging delivery outside the off-stump to Zak Crawley, who went for the drive and edged it straight to Sai Sudharsan at point. It was a big moment, and it proved that Gill’s reading of the game was spot on.

That wicket was the beginning of a mini-collapse for England. Soon after, Akash Deep got rid of both Ben Duckett and Joe Root, leaving England in trouble at 72 for 3 by the end of Day 4.

But Gill’s leadership isn’t just about tactics. He’s also delivering with the bat. In the same match, Gill scored a massive 267 in the first innings, and followed it up with a blazing 161 off 162 balls in the second. No player in Test history has ever scored both 250+ and 150+ in the same match before. That’s how special this performance was.

India declared their innings at 427-6, setting England a near-impossible target of 608 runs to win, a total no team has ever chased in Test cricket. Meanwhile, England need 536 runs more on Day 5. History is not on their side, their best-ever chase is just 378 runs, and that too came against India back in 2022.