THE CREATORS OF HISTORY: The 2nd TEST REVIEW

THE CREATORS OF HISTORY

There's something about the Indian team that makes them thrive and bounce back the hardest whenever they are counted out, criticized, and considered the underdogs. Be it Gabba 2021, Cape Town 2024, Perth 2024, or Edgbaston 2025... it seems like they have a habit of breaching fortresses.

With the victory in the 2nd test at Edgbaston, India became the 1st Asian team to beat England at Edgbaston, and it was India's 1st victory ever at the ground.

Shubman Gill becomes the 2nd Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to score a double hundred and a hundred in the same match and the 1st to score 200 and 150 in the same test match. He also scored a total of 430 runs in this match, which is the 2nd highest in a match ever.

There were a lot of doubts over the team selection, but these questions were to be answered perfectly over the course of 5 days.

A BATTER's PARADISE:

It was a match where a total of 1673 runs were scored across 4 innings, making it the 4th highest aggregate for a test match to not end in a draw.

The biggest point of difference in batting between the 2 teams were the small contributions by the batters along with the centurions. India scored a total of 1014 runs in this match which is their highest ever, whereas England scored only 659 runs, which shows the difference between both teams.

In the 1st innings, when India scored 587 runs, it was Shubman Gill who scored a mammoth 269 run innings [Highest score by an Indian test captain]. Along with Gill it was Yashasvi's 87 that set the tone, and crucial lower-order contributions of Jadeja with 89 and Sundar with 42... it showed what Jadeja can do if he is batting with a good batting partner and the questions over Sundar's selection were answered when he provided those runs and more so the stability and resistance which was required by him to stay and hold 1 end while Shubman was batting flawlessly. Oh, what to say about the maturity and class with which Gill built his innings and showed temperament where he respected good balls and pounced on the bad ones. A big technical flaw that he corrected was closing the gap between his bat and pads, due to which he got out LBW and bowled most of the times.

Whereas in England's 1st innings after the 3 quick wickets there was a giant 303 runs partnership between Brook and Jamie Smith where Brook scored 158 and Smith scored 184[Highest by an English keeper] but apart from that there were 6 ducks and not even a single 25+ score in the innings which led to crumbling on 407 giving India a 180 run lead.This was also one of the lowest scores made by a batting team when a 300+ run partnership occurred.

In the 2nd innings India started flourishing quickly with a 51 runs opening stand and KL scoring a 50... Karun once again got a start but was not able to convert it and soon India were 126-3 when Gill and Pant had a century stand where Pant absolutely unleashed his inner beast and did RISHABHPANTI... making 65 off 58 taking the bull by its horns later when Pant got out Gill had a 175 run stand with Jadeja scoring yet again 69 runs and the sword was out. Amidst all this was Captain Gill's 161 off 162 balls masterclass, which was a mix of power, aggression, resilience, and control.

Gill's average boosted from 35.05[before the series] to 42.72.

After Gill got out everyone thought India would declare but they did not... not even when Reddy got out and eventually declared with a lead of 607... A few questions lied:

Did we bat too long?

Did Jadeja bat tad slow?

Can we bowl England out in this much time?[A question which was again asked when rain came at the start of Day 5]

Are we being too defensive?

These were too be answered....

England's chase was to be a test of Patience, Grit, Resilience, and approach for Bazball as everyone thought... Do they have the ability to block out if the situation arises, or is Bazball gonna create history and chase down the total?

They did not ... actually, instead of blocking out, they started heaving to try for sixes when it was certain they would lose, and their only option was to go for a draw. Was it the arrogance of Bazball or a simple brain-fade by England?

BOWLING:

In the 1st innings, English pacers weren't able to extract much of the pitch apart from Woakes, who bowled brilliantly with the new ball, but as the ball got softer, it got much easier to score runs. Bashir the spinner got 3... 2 apiece for Woakes and Toungue and 1 each for Stokes, Carse and Root. It almost looked like England were not able to get much out of the wicket and their decision too bowl first has costed them heavily as even after restricing India for 211-5 they let them make 587 runs.

India's 1st innings was a real new ball masterclass by Akashdeep and Siraj and consisted of yet another expensive spell by Prasidh and also Washington whereas Jadeja once again did not get a wicket... Reddy also bowled 6 overs at an economy of 4.8. India restricted England for 84-5 but the next wicket took an eternity to come as it fell at 387-6 with the 2nd new ball. As the ball got softer after the 21st over it was easier to score runs and the Indian pacers and spinners weren't able to cope up but still when the 2nd new ball came they restricted England too 20-5[387-6 to 407 all out] getting them a massive lead of 180.

India's bowling was 87-5 to 303-0 to 20-5. This depicted the importance of capitalizing with the new ball. All of the 10 wickets were shared between Akashdeep and Siraj with a 4-fer and 6-fer, respectively.

There is not much to talk about England's 2nd innings bowling as India most certainly controlled the game from thereon and England just waited for things to happen and come their way.

India's 2nd innings once again saw them making great use of new ball by Akashdeep and Siraj restricting England to 83-5 but his time the same mistakes weren't repeated... Jadeja used the rough exceptionally and Prasidh's much-improved spell of 14 overs with an economy of just 2.8, where I thought he bowled much better than getting just 1 wicket.

Tactical Decisions by Gill of Bowling Akash from the opposite end from which he bowled yesterday and bringing Washington just before Lunch proved to be crucial as Washi got the all important wicket of The English Captain and Akashdeep getting a 6-fer, eventually him getting a 10-fer.

Siraj Average:

With Bumrah:34

Without Bumrah: 26

This shows how much he loves taking up responsibility and the sense of responsibility makes him thrive... be it fifer at Gabba, Cape Town, Lord's 2021 and now here... he has always worked hard and gave his best for the team.

Akashdeep has the 3rd highest average with the new ball since 2024 which is 13.80 just behind Hazlewood and Rabada which makes him a great asset for the team and shows how big of a fighter he his going through all the difficulties life has thrown at him.

CONCLUSION:

India learnt from their mistakes and took some exceptional catches ... Highlights being Siraj's catch of Toungue ... Gill's catch and KL's catch at slips with Karun and rest of the team being on their toes.

With Bumrah returning .. I don't see Prasidh making the cut if India goes with 2 spinners.
Lord's will be legendary with Bumrah, Siraj and Akashdeep bowling as a trio and Archer and Atkinson returning most probably for England...

Appreciation where due.. if we criticize Gambhir for a loss we should also appreciate him when we win especially when its a historic win.

Let's wait and watch what Lord's has in store for us but one thing is certain that it'll be another cracker of a test.