Gill personified class and composure. He milked Shoaib Bashir for singles with the ease of a father teaching his son a lesson in the back garden, caressed back-to-back boundaries off Brydon Carse through wide mid-on and cover, and treated Harry Brook’s medium pace with utter disdain as he swept landmarks aside.

He started England’s innings off the field after his 387-ball epic, then took a spectacular catch four balls after walking back on. Akash Deep, India’s replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, cramped Ben Duckett for room from around the wicket and induced a thick outside edge; Gill flung himself acrobatically to his left and clung onto the chance, sending last week’s fourth-innings centurion crashing back to earth.

Akash struck again with his next ball, a full outswinger which Ollie Pope optimistically tried to whip leg-side. His outside edge flew to KL Rahul at second slip, who parried the chance up to himself and grabbed it at the second attempt; Pope said after his first-innings century in Leeds that he was determined to avoid a familiar tail-off as the series wears on but has now failed twice since.

India were rampant and soon had a third when Mohammed Siraj, who bowled a faultless opening spell, had Zak Crawley edging to first slip. It was a textbook Crawley dismissal, pushing with hard hands – and no foot movement – at a ball which left him, which left Brook and Joe Root to pick up the pieces: after 151 overs in the field, England were still 362 short of the follow-on mark.

While Root was watchful, Brook sensed an opportunity to take the pressure off himself – and to get rid of some close catchers. After surviving an umpire’s call lbw shout – with Sharfuddoula consistent across both innings – Brook charged Siraj, flat-batting him through extra cover before launching him for six down the ground. He made it through to stumps, the deficit still 510.

But a 52-run stand could not take the shine off Gill’s day. It is increasingly hard to fathom that he averaged barely 35 in Tests before this tour: he has led by example in his first series as captain and already looks ensconced in his new role at No. 4. Chief among his records were the highest score by an Indian men’s captain, and the highest score by any Indian batter in England.

He was brilliantly supported by India’s two spin-bowling allrounders. Jadeja was the aggressor at the start of the day, slapping Ben Stokes through the off side for back-to-back boundaries. The pair exchanged words about Jadeja’s habit of taking two strides down the pitch before deciding whether to attempt a run, and both were warned off the danger area by umpires.

Jadeja fell shortly before lunch, gloving Josh Tongue’s short ball down the leg side for 89, and Sundar struggled early against the bumper barrage. But he decided to take him on after lunch, pulling him over long leg for six, and otherwise held up one end while Gill dominated the scoring.

Stokes opted to preserve Chris Woakes’ body, and his own: neither man bowled an over after their initial bursts which started the day, with Bashir relied upon to hold up an end as Tongue, Brydon Carse and Brook rotated from the other. It took Joe Root, curiously under-bowled, to break the partnership, ripping an offbreak past Sundar’s outside edge and into middle stump.

Gill fell shortly after tea, mistiming a pull straight to square leg: it was the first genuine chance he had offered, after a half-hearted lbw shout on the first evening and an outside edge past second slip in Woakes’ early burst. Bashir was handed the final two weeks on a platter: Akash holed out to long-on and Siraj walked past a carrom ball to be stumped.

India’s selection plan is halfway to working: Gill explained that Sundar’s selection ahead of Kuldeep Yadav owed to the extra batting he provided, and he played a major role in helping India add a national-record 372 runs for the last five wickets. The second half relies upon them taking 20 England wickets with the resources available: after three early strikes, so far, so good.

Brief scores:
England 77 for 3 in 20 overs (Joe Root 18*, Harry Brook 30*; Akash Deep 2-36)   trail  India 587 in 151 overs (Shubman Gill 269, Ravindra Jadeja 89, Vaishasvi Jaiswal 87, Washington Sundar 42; Shoaib Bashir 3-167, Chris Woakes 2-81, Josh Tongue 2-119)  by 510 runs

[Cricinfo]