Team India faces England in the second Test at Edgbaston, a venue where they've never won. Gill's team aims to break the 5-decade jinx and level the series after their Headingley defeat.
Team India will square off against England in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday, July 2. The Shubman Gill-led side is currently trailing 0-1 in the five-match Test series after losing the opening match at Headingley in Leeds on June 24.
Following the Headingley Test defeat, Team India will head into the second Test at Edgbaston, where they have not won a match yet in red-ball cricket. India have eight Test matches in Birmingham since 1967, but they failed to win a single game, suffering seven defeats and managing one draw, which came in 1986 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.
Edgaston has remained one of the two venues in England where Team India has to win a Test match. The other being Old Trafford in Manchester, where India had nine outings but lost four matches and managed to secure five draws from 1936 to 2014. The Edgbaston Test marks yet another chance to break their long-standing jinx at the venue, a drought that has lasted over five decades.
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Shubman Gill eyes historic breakthrough
A total of eight Indian captains, including Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Ajit Wadekar, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah, have all led India at Edgbaston without tasting a victory.
Since the past is the past, all eyes will be on Shubman Gill and his boys to turn a new chapter in India’s Test history at Edgbaston and script a memorable comeback in the ongoing series. The last time India played a Test match in Birmingham was in 2022, when they suffered a seven-wicket defeat despite taking a first–inning lead, allowing England to gun down a record 378-run target in the fourth innings.
The current India Test squad has six players from the 2022 Edgbaston clash, including Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur. Virat Kohli was part of the playing XI back then, but is unavailable as he retired from Test cricket. Rohit Sharma did not play the match as he was ruled out due to COVID-19, but he won’t feature this time as he too stepped away from red-ball cricket ahead of the England tour.
The current squad not only has players from the 2022 Edgbaston Test defeat, but also some new faces who are part of India’s transition phase in Test cricket after the retirements of Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma.
A mix of youth and experience brings uncertainty and promise as they step into one of the most daunting venues in Indian cricket history.
Crucial Test for India
After the Headingley Test defeat, Team India is in a situation where they either have to win or draw the Edgbaston Test to avoid a 0-2 deficit and stay alive in the series. Ahead of the second Test, there is an uncertainty over Jasprit Bumrah’s participation despite the India skipper Shubman Gill and the assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate confirming that the pace spearhead is available for selection.
Team management has decided to play Bumrah in three Tests in order to manage his workload after a back injury during the Sydney Test put him out of action for three months. The visitors will take a call on his participation depending on the nature of the pitch at Edgbaston. However, India are heading into the second Test with a major concern in bowling as, except for Bumrah, none of the frontline pacers are able to make a significant impact at Headingley.
Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur picked wickets but leaked runs. Their over-reliance on Jasprit Bumrah was exposed when he was wicketless in the second innings, allowing England to gun down a 371-run target in 82 overs on the final day.
Reportedly, India are expected to make major changes to bring balance to the team by bringing in left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh if Jasprit Bumrah sits out, while Shardul Thakur is set to be replaced by Washington Sundar as the visitors are likely to go with two spinners. And, Karun Nair is likely to make way for Nitish Kumar Reddy.
England’s Test record at Edgbaston and the Bazball approach
Since Edgbaston is one of the home grounds for England, The Three Lions hold a good Test record at the venue, winning 30 matches in 56 outings, while losing just 11 and drawing 15, making it one of their most successful hunting grounds in red-ball cricket.
However, England has had inconsistent results in their last six outings at the Edgbaston Test, having won 3 matches and lost as many games. Ben Stokes-led side's last Edgbaston Test defeat came against Australia in 2023, while their last win came against the West Indies last year.
Despite fluctuations in the recent results, England will still carry the psychological advantage of history and familiarity at Edgbaston, posing yet another challenge for Team India, who are looking to script history. Under the captain and coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England have adopted a fearless and ultra-aggressive approach in red-ball cricket, which was termed ‘Bazball’.
The Bazball approach has taken the cricket world by storm as they have dominated every opposition at home, and they will look to continue that streak against a transitional Indian side desperate to find its footing.
When England and India met at Edgbaston last time, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root resorted to a counter-attacking masterclass, stitching together an unbeaten 269-run partnership in the fourth innings to chase down a daunting target of 378, leaving Indian bowlers stunned.
Team India needs to punch above their weight
Winning a Test match at Edgbaston has been an arduous task for India over the last five decades, demanding not just skill but mental resolve to overcome psychological baggage and a strong England side in their backyard.
The Headingley Test might have hurt Team India as they ended up losing the match despite five individual centuries and the dropped catches that took the match away from the visitors, but the bigger challenge now lies in bouncing back from the series opener defeat and seizing every opportunity and moment at a moment that has been never kind to them.
After India lost the first Test at Headingley, Ravi Shastri reckoned that the visitors needed to have a ‘knockout punch’ to bounce back in the Edgbaston Test.
“You're going to go and show some real character. And the knockout punch has to come in the very next Test match. If that doesn't happen, then you're really looking down.” Shastri said.
“So whenever there's a counter punch, you're down. That has to happen quite immediately. So they have to realise that,” he added.
