Dharamshala, March 8 (IANS): Centuries from skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill have put India in command as the hosts reached 264/1 at lunch on day 2 of the fifth and final Test against England at the HPCA Stadium on Friday.
Resuming to the overnight score of 135/1, Rohit (102 off 160) and Gill (101* off 142) in pristine weather and batting conditions dominated the opening session of the day and put up 160-run stand, India's second consecutive hundred partnership in the series.
The duo was in no mood to let England into the game and both batters got their hundreds three balls apart. Rohit was the first to reach the three-figure mark. He notched his second hundred of the series and 12th overall with a clip-through midwicket off Tom Hartley.
In the next over, he hands the strike back to Gill, who slog-sweep Shoaib Bashir to bring up his second century of the series and fourth in Tests.
Gill played the aggressor early on, while Rohit looked solid at one end. England tried the short ball ploy but it didn't work as the two players didn't let the pressure build.
Brief Scores: India 264/1 at lunch (Rohit Sharma 102*, Shubman Gill 101*) lead England 218 in 57.4 overs (Zak Crawley 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5-72, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-51) by 46 runs