India have achieved their first-ever Test victory at Edgbaston, Birmingham as Shubman Gill and Co. dismantled Bazball after out-batting and out-bowling England on a deck that refused to deteriorate even by the fifth and final day on Sunday, July 6. Captain Gill, a day before the second Test, urged his teammates that if a batter is set, he should take the responsibility to add those extra 50-60 runs if he can and he himself walked the talk, scoring 430 runs for the match, out of 1,014 the visitors scored, their highest-ever tally in a Test match.
All the talks about India's balance and combination for the second Test, albeit legitimate, felt like they happened aeons ago. While the criticism and all the outrage still holds its ground, the result would vindicate skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir of their decision-making to deepen the batting line-up with the addition of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar and bringing in Akash Deep, who ended up picking 10 wickets for the match.
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However, the match belonged to captain Shubman Gill. Gill set it up, dominated it, made a fool out of England's bowlers and batted them out of the game, probably on his own.
In nine appearances at the venue in 58 years, this was a historic first-ever victory after seven defeats and a draw. This was India beating England at their own game, their own planning and in their own conditions. Score big, as big as you can go and the difference between a 471 at Headingley and a 587 on the second day of this Test was telling. And even though England used the phrase 'mopping up the tail' rather frequently and favourably after the first Test for Josh Tongue, the way Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj bent their backs across two innings, the gulf between the two bowling attacks came to the fore as well.
The toss and the (over)confidence of chasing
How did it all begin then? Probably at the toss. Ben Stokes overestimated his side's potential to chase down any score, especially with the wickets remaining as flat as they have been in the first two Tests and Gill took it upon himself to prove Stokes' decision wrong for England. Over after over, session after session, Gill glanced, chipped, left, drove, flicked, swept, reverse-swept, lofted and punched his way to records not seen in India's Test cricket history, including the highest individual score by a captain for his country.
There were contributions from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, further providing relief to Gambhir for playing a couple of spin-bowling all-rounders. Despite the pushback from Harry Brook and Jamie Smith's partnership of 303 runs, Akash Deep, who triggered the initial procession for England, broke the partnership, getting the ball to seam enough to disturb Harry Brook's timber.
England doing an India, tail not turning up with the bat, wasn't what anyone expected, as from looking like closing in on the visitors' total, Ben Stokes and Co fell short by a massive margin of 180 runs. That's what a 587 does, made 407 look like a poor effort with the bat, which is also a reflection on the kind of wicket that was dished out.
Shubman G(r)ills England
Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Jadeja and KL Rahul wielded their willows yet again as bowling over 150 overs in the first innings took a massive toll on their pacers' bodies and despite strong spells from Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue at various points, England ended up conceding 427 runs in the second innings and India had ensured that the hosts couldn't win the Test match, needing 608 runs in 108 overs.
Another three-wicket run-through from Akash Deep and Siraj, possibly dented England's hopes for a draw. England's Bazball's disdain for a draw has been made abundantly clear for years now but were they ready to barter it for a loss? Well, as it turned out, they didn't try it hard enough as India's bowling, led by Akash Deep's 10-fer, was too good for it. The margin in the end was a whopping 336 runs, the highest for India away from home.
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It was a win against all the odds, with India being without two of their most attacking bowlers, the first one for coach Gautam Gambhir away from home and the one that should keep Stokes and McCullum up at night for the next couple of days and rightfully so as the visitors can't wait to welcome Jasprit Bumrah back at Home of Cricket with series at stalemate 1-1.
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