Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage from Day 5 of the India vs England 2nd Test match being played at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
India has set up a daunting target of 608 ahead of England thanks to Shubman Gill’s 161, and Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja’s fifties. In reply, England finished the fourth day at 72 for three with both openers and Joe Root back in the pavillion. Weather suggests there’s rain at the start of the first session in Birmingham.
Recent heartbreak and the weight of depressing history make for a double whammy for India, desperate to not fall further behind when the second of five Tests gets underway on Wednesday. As if their five-wicket defeat at Headingley last week, despite calling the shots for large pockets of first match, wasn’t bad enough, India have a dismal record at Edgbaston — seven defeats and a draw in eight tilts.
It’s against this not-so-encouraging backdrop that Shubman Gill must rouse his troops into battle all over again. This time, potentially without the ace in his pack, the peerless Jasprit Bumrah.
Batting-friendly pitch
India have already used up one of the three trump cards available this series — their premier bowler has been pencilled in to play only three Tests — with little to show for it. Despite five centuries across two innings and a first-innings five-wicket haul for Bumrah, they were well beaten by an intrepid, adventurous England side that has reined in its bravado and are therefore even more dangerous for it. Now, they must find ways and means to keep Ben Stokes’s men at bay on a surface that appears perfectly suited to their uninhibited approach to batting.
Bumrah bowled 43.4 overs in Leeds, par for the course considering the match went down to the final session of the last day, and has had a week to recover from his exertions. But his limited appearances in this series are less due to workload issues and more to manage a pesky back that has troubled him numerous times in the past. Specialist advice has earmarked playing three Tests as the optimal route ahead; it’s far from ideal from a team point of view, but Bumrah’s pre-eminence and the threat-perception that accompanies him means it’s a trade-off India have grown to become comfortable with.
Gill’s situation is eerily similar to that of Virat Kohli. In August 2015, in his first full-fledged Test series as skipper, Kohli’s India fell to a crushing 63-run loss versus Sri Lanka in the opening tie in Galle.
As shadows lengthened on day one of the first Test between India and England in Leeds, Shubman Gill would have been a pleased man. His side had reached a comfortable 359 for three and the captain had helped himself to 127 immaculate, unbeaten runs.
the latest rankings and will enter the Neeraj Chopra Classic as the top-ranked javelin thrower. Neeraj, who won gold at Tokyo Olympics and silver in Paris last year, currently has 1445 points, thus displacing Grenada's Anderson Peters (1431) in the second place. Neeraj had lost his top spot to Peters last year.
German ace Julian Weber is third at 1407 points, followed by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (1370) at fourth. The development comes in after Neeraj recently came on top at the Paris Diamond League, ahead of Weber. Prior to that, the Indian finished second behind Weber at the Doha Diamond League in May.
NEW DELHI: India stamped their authority on the opening day of the much-anticipated five-Test series against England, ending Day 1 at a commanding 359 for 3, thanks to masterful centuries from Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, and a sparkling unbeaten fifty from Rishabh Pant. The trio defied challenging overhead conditions and an energetic English attack at Headingley, laying down an early marker for the World Test Championship cycle 2025–27.
The day belonged to the young Indian captain Shubman Gill, who marked his new leadership chapter with a sublime 127 not out, while Jaiswal brought up his fifth Test century with a confident and composed 101 — also his first on English soil. Together, they stitched a monumental 191-run partnership, rescuing India after the early loss of Rohit Sharma.
The Headingley Test was a statistician’s delight with numerous records being set, but it is the one unwanted record they stacked up that will haunt India for a long time.
For the first time in the long history of the five-day game, a team that threw up five centuries ended up on the losing side. India had four men who made hundreds — Rishabh Pant joined Andy Flower as the only wicketkeepers with twin centuries in the same Test — but that counted for little as England’s collective might and their propensity to grab key moments translated to a five-wicket victory and a 1-0 lead with four to play.
Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, confirmed on Tuesday night, an hour after Jamie Smith hit the winning six, that Jasprit Bumrah had only two more matches left in him over the next six weeks. Bumrah was one of the star performers alongside batting heroes Shubman Gill, in his first Test as captain, Yashasvi Jaiswal and the admirable KL Rahul, though even he was powerless in preventing England from mounting a successful chase of 371 with almost ridiculous ease.
Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage from Day 5 of the India vs England 2nd Test match being played at Edgbaston in Birmingham. India has s...
