 "KL Rahul and Shubman Gill forged a crucial partnership in the second innings of the 4th Test. Reuters")
England continued to dominate India on Day 4 of the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 at Old Trafford, Manchester. After restricting India to 358 in the first innings, the hosts piled on a mammoth 669 runs, putting the visitors under huge pressure.
Things got even worse for India in their second innings as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan were dismissed for ducks in the very first over by Chris Woakes. However, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul steadied the innings with a solid partnership. By the end of Day 4, Gill was unbeaten on 78, while Rahul was batting on 87.
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Gill and Rahul achieve rare milestone
Their efforts not only kept India’s hopes of saving the match alive but also helped them achieve a rare milestone in Indian cricket history. Both Gill and Rahul have now crossed 500 runs each in this Test series, becoming the first pair of Indian batters to achieve this feat in a single series in 55 years.
Sunil Gavaskar (774 runs) and Dilip Sardesai (648 runs) last achieved the landmark during India’s historic tour of the West Indies in 1971. Before that, Vijay Hazare (543) and Rusi Modi (560) did it against the West Indies in 1948. Rahul and Gill are the latest to join the list as they became the top two scorers in the ongoing series.
Gill has scored 697 runs in 8 innings at an average of 99.57, including two centuries and a double ton. Rahul, on the other hand, has 508 runs under his belt in 8 innings at an average of 72.57. He also has one century to his name in the series so far.
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As far as the fourth Test is concerned, India will now look to bat out the entire fifth day to salvage a draw, still trailing England by 137 runs with eight wickets in hand. On the other side, England will be aiming to break this partnership early and push for victory on the final day. India have five more batters to come before the tailenders and they will hope to keep batting.