Sports Mole previews the second match of the Test series between England and India at Edgbaston, including predictions and team news.
Following an impressive victory at Headingley, England will be hoping to take a 2-0 lead in their ongoing series against India when they head to Edgbaston this week for the second Test.
There is a chance of rain before the 11:00 start on July 2, but improving conditions are expected to allow mostly uninterrupted play in Birmingham over the coming week.
Match preview
India would have been bitterly disappointed and perhaps somewhat bewildered by how they lost their opening match of the series at Headingley, having dominated proceedings for the majority of the five-day contest.Â
No team had ever lost a Test match after scoring five individual centuries, until Shubman Gill’s side did in Leeds, where tons from the captain, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and a pair from the irrepressible Rishabh Pant proved futile.
A major contributing factor to the defeat was India dropping five catches during England’s first innings – the most the team has grassed in five years – including key misses that allowed Ollie Pope (from 60 to 106), Ben Duckett (15 to 62) and Harry Brook (58 to 99) to go on to post significant scores.
Another factor behind Indiaâ€s defeat was a batting collapse, as they lost seven wickets for 41 after Gill fell to Shoaib Bashir in the first inning, and that pattern was repeated in the second innings, when the side crumbled from 334/4 to 364 all out after Brydon Carse bowled KL Rahul.
Given the result in the first match, India now also face a conundrum around Jasprit Bumrahâ€s workload management, as the worldâ€s top-ranked fast bowler, who claimed five wickets in the first innings at Leeds, intends to play only three of the five Tests, which could leave the attack signifincantly less threatening in his absence in Birmingham.Â
Meanwhile, starting day five of the first Test at 21/0, England steadily got to 117/0 by lunch, maintaining a measured scoring rate of four runs per over while successfully negotiating their main threats, Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
Englandâ€s Bazball made its first true impression right here at Edgbaston in 2022 when the Three Lions chased down a record 378 against India, and now they return to the same venue to face the same opponents in the second Test of this year’s series.
While Jonny Bairstow was the embodiment of Bazball during its early days at the top of the order, that mantle now seems to belong to Duckett, whose brilliant 149 anchored Englandâ€s largely comfortable chase of 371 – their second-highest in Test history – against India at Headingley last week.
Indiaâ€s rising star, Jaiswal, is the only opener above Duckett in the latest ICC Test batting rankings, and there is certainly a solid case to be made that the English left-hander is currently among the best all-format batters in the game.
Englandâ€s record at Edgbaston will also add to their confidence of going 2-0 up in the series, as they have won 30 of the 56 Test matches played at the venue, while only losing 11 and playing out 15 draws.Â
Team News
Jofra Archer was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against India, but the Three Lions†speedster left the camp over the weekend to attend to a family emergency and has been ruled out for the Edgbaston clash.Â
Ben Stokes has opted to go with an unchanged lineup for this match, with the pace trio of Chris Woakes, â Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue retained, while Bashir will serve as the primary spin option.Â
As mentioned earlier, the main uncertainty heading into this match for India revolves around Bumrahâ€s availability and whether they possess the bowling strength to take 20 wickets in his absence.
In the event that the worldâ€s top fast bowler is unable to feature at Edgbaston, Arshdeep Singh is the most likely to be entrusted with the new ball alongside Siraj following another impressive performance at the Indian Premier League this year.Â
Pant will be hoping to accomplish a significant feat in this match, as his back-to-back centuries at Headingley saw him move to joint-third for the most tons by an Indian batter against England, now level on five with Virat Kohli, one behind former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and two off the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid on seven apiece.Â
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England squad:Â Ben Stokes (C), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes
India squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
Series so far
Test 1 of 3: England won by five wickets
India – 471 & 364
England – 465 & 373/5
We say: England to win
While India’s top order batted extremely well in the first Test, they struggled to contain England with the ball in hand in the second innings, which allowed the home team to romp to victory fairly comfortably in the end.Â
Given that Bumrah is likely to be left out of this match as part of his workload management, India may struggle to make inroads against their opponentâ€s top order, and we feel that the Three Lions will take full advantage en route to a 2-0 series lead.Â
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