McCullum pinpoints England error with Edgbaston toss

England “probably” made a mistake, according to coach Brendon McCullum, when they lost by 336 runs to India in the second Test at Edgbaston.

In the fourth innings, captain Ben Stokes preferred to chase, but that gave India a second chance to bat first, and the innings totaled 587.

From there, they had a clear lead over the game, and they won the match by winning it for 271, beating England with a score of 608.

“I believe as the game progressed, we probably considered the toss and said, “Did we miss an opportunity there?” and probably fair,” McCullum told BBC Test Match Special.

This England camp’s admission that they had made a mistake was rare, as McCullum claimed. In any circumstance, they typically continue to focus on the positives rather than the negatives.

Under Stokes and McCullum, who won four of England’s top ten fourth-innings chases, including 371 against India at Edgbaston in 2022 and 378 against India in the first Test last week.

In 10 of the 11 matches that he has won the toss in England, Stokes chose to bowl first. This is only their second successive defeat.

As we passed the five days, McCullum said, “We believed this pitch might get better to bat on as we went on,” but as we saw, it didn’t.

Stokes cited England’s inability to defeat India’s lower order in the first innings, which came back from 211-5.

No one really knows what a wicket will do, according to Stokes, and no one has a crystal ball.

We were relieved to be even five down at the end of day one because they were 211-5.

We simply couldn’t open them, they said. On that wicket, we might have had a chance to bowl them out for less than 350, which would have been a good effort.

Stokes claimed that the work of his bowlers during the match had no bearing on him. For the third Test at Lord’s, which begins on Thursday, England have added seamer Gus Atkinson to an otherwise unchanged squad that included him from the first two Tests due to a hamstring injury.

Given the quick turnaround, Jamie Overton and Jofra Archer might also play in his first Test match of the year, while Sam Cook and Jamie Cook might also be in line for the win.

Shubman Gill, the skipper of India, confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah, the star bowler, will “definitely” return to Lord’s after missing this game due to a back injury.

Akash Deep won the match flawlessly with a 10-187 overall in Bumrah’s place.

Gill said, “He bowled with such heart and skillfully with his lengths.”

It was difficult to do because he had to “move it in both directions.” He did a fantastic job for us.

Gill scored 430 runs in the first two innings, making 269 in the first and 161 in the second, which is the second-most runs scored in both innings in Test history.

His first as captain coincides with his first victory at Edgbaston, which is India’s first.

Gill, age 25, said, “I feel confident in my game, and winning the series would be a great accomplishment for us.”