Birmingham: India’s 336-run vintage victory over England following the second Test in Edgbaston was a milestone as it was the first time that India had beaten England in Test matches hosted by them. India leveled the scores as England folded to 271 having been hindered by an unprecedented 608-run chase in the fourth inning. Despite the Indian team’s exemplary performance, particularly batting by Shubman Gill and bowling by Akash Deep, England lost because of three strategic blunders of grave significance.
1. An Expensive Decision
Even before the first ball was delivered, the English mission was already in disarray. With a flat Edgbaston track, captain Ben Stokes won the toss and astonishingly decided to bowl first. Since the first innings batting team here already won here in the first place, it was not unexpected that most people denounced this move. It is not a simple feat to chase such types of scores in the fourth innings here at Edgbaston too. In favorable climatic conditions, India chose to bowl first, which would have been advantageous if rain had affected the first day. The Englishmen never managed to match their trouncing 587-run total, which was led by Gill, whose record-breaking score of 269 kept the batsmen in the driving seat.
2. Getting it wrong in the case of Akash Deep
India’s decision not to include Jasprit Bumrah in the Test was widely criticised; some opined that coming out to bat for the relatively untested Bumrah was a waste of time. But the young pacer emerged as a tough competitor for England. Akash Deep overwhelmed the English batting lineup with four wickets in the first innings and a record ten in the second. The top bowler of the match was because he possessed speed, movement, and relentless accuracy, which baffled English batsmen. The inability of England to cope with his bowling was another reason for their loss.
3. Bazball’s Careless Aggression
When England are getting challenged with a daunting 608-run target, they are overwhelmed by this husky, thick-boned batting approach with Bazball. The English batsmen began playing big instead of fighting for a draw. Harry Brook, who had played a century in the first innings, was bowled LBW by Akash Deep as he tried to hunt for lightning-fast runs, but Zak Crawley attempted to win the game early and got dismissed. Though Ollie Pope’s 24 runs showed him to be conservative, that was not sufficient. When England’s top order had been left at 80-5 and had laid bare their horrid batting deemed aggressive to disciplined bowling, their chances of saving the match were flushed down the drain.
India won in part because England had a failure of strategy and could not handle the Indian players’ bowling ability. To avoid such errors, Stokes and his team will have to reorganize themselves and reassess their tactics during future episodes of the show.
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