By Leonard Ratnayake, reporting from England
Trailing 1-0 in the Test series, the last thing India will hope for is clear blue skies, because Edgbaston is a hunting ground for seam, bounce, and the lateral movement that the Dukes ball generates over the first two days of play.
India will have strong crowd support in Birmingham. One point India may reconsider is resting Jasprit Bumrah for this crucial Test — they simply cannot afford to let England go 2-0 up in the series.
There is a school of thought that England might bring in Jofra Archer at Edgbaston, as the surface tends to offer plenty on Days 1 and 2. Batting becomes easier on Days 3 and 4, with Day 5 likely to open the door for spinners due to wear and tear and cracks on the pitch playing their tricks.
Turning to Ben Stokes and his batting cordon, they seem a few notches ahead of the visitors. Ben Duckett, fresh off his 149 in the second innings at Headingley, looks confident, while Zak Crawley — who stitched together a 180-plus partnership with Duckett for the first wicket — has found his rhythm.
Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Harry Brook look settled at the top of the order, despite lingering doubts about Brook’s application to red-ball cricket, following a virus infection that’s affected his performance even as he thrives in white-ball formats. Bookmakers believe that Jamie Smith could be the game-changer — someone who could swing the match either while building or chasing a target with his Bazball mindset.
Credit must be given to the English bowlers — they accomplished what India could not by taking all 20 wickets to win the Test.
Chris Woakes might not be as effective in Australia, South Africa, or on subcontinent pitches, but in English conditions, he brings a different dimension to the bowling attack.
While England may not possess spinners of India’s calibre, young Shoaib Bashir looks like a promising prospect. He turned back the clock in the first Test by picking up a couple of Indian wickets in the second innings.
Big question: What about India?
Despite having five centurions at Headingley, the team resembled a roaring lion with no tail, to put it mildly. Jaiswal and K.L. Rahul have been solid as openers. Shubman Gill — if he can switch off his captaincy mindset while batting — could significantly improve his performance, which would naturally benefit the team.
So far, we haven’t seen the best of Sai Sudharsan. He needs to apply himself in red-ball cricket and deliver, especially since he’s been tasked with filling Virat Kohli’s massive shoes — never an easy role to emulate.
India will be pleased that Rishabh Pant is back among the runs. But the top order can’t always be expected to do the job of the lower middle order, especially not in English conditions. This is a crucial point, particularly because Jadeja plays as an all-rounder, and the runs he contributes are gold dust for India, absolutely essential.
What’s going on with India’s bowling?
With three world-class seamers — Bumrah, Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna — alongside support from Shardul Thakur, India still isn’t consistently taking 20 wickets, which is vital to winning a Test.
Bumrah picked up five wickets in the first innings but went wicketless in the second. Though he had support from the other seamers early on, in the second innings, the momentum vanished. It was like a celebration turning into mourning. The bowlers lost discipline, bowling on both sides of the wicket, and India’s ground fielding and catching were appalling, especially considering they were defending a very defendable target.
India has had a well-earned rest. Now, the massive fan base will expect the tail to wag, half-chances to be taken, ground fielding to reflect Jadeja-like brilliance across the eleven, and most importantly, the lion’s tail to grow strong in support of the top-order batters.
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