Archive July 3, 2025

Second Rothesay Test, Edgbaston (day two of five)

India 587: Gill 269, Jadeja 89; Bashir 3-167

England 77-3: Brook 30*; Deep 2-36

England trail by 510 runs

England’s top order was blown away after Shubman Gill’s mammoth 269 for India to leave the hosts requiring their most unlikely turnaround yet under captain Ben Stokes after two days of the second Test at Edgbaston.

Gill’s epic helped India pile up 587 and, after five sessions in the field, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley all fell to leave England 77-3 at the close.

Duckett and Pope, England’s centurions from their comeback win in the first Test, were caught in the slips off consecutive deliveries in seamer Akash Deep’s second over.

Crawley wafted at Mohammed Siraj to offer another edge on 19 as India, who faced huge questions coming into this Test, took total control.

Harry Brook was skittish in making 30 not out – he finished alongside Joe Root who has 18 – and could easily have deepened England’s woes.

Gill had earlier effortlessly compiled the highest score by an India batter in England and the highest score by an Indian skipper anywhere in the world.

After resuming on 114, Gill extended his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja to 203 to steer India away from early danger and when Jadeja fell for 89, he put on 144 with Washington Sundar to drive home the advantage.

England have made a habit of pulling off the improbable under Stokes but this was already their toughest task before India’s triple strike.

They have conceded 500 three times under this regime and won on each occasion.

None of those three previous totals were as large as India’s here, however. In fact, only once has a team conceded so many and lost – New Zealand, who countered Bangladesh’s 595-8 declared to win in 2017.

Although the pitch remains largely good for batting, India’s bowlers found more movement and zip than England’s managed all day.

They did not miss Jasprit Bumrah with Deep stepping up to replace the world’s leading bowler who is resting.

Looking forward, intrigue is added by Stokes’ previous insistence that his side will not play for draws.

Such is cricket, Duckett followed his 149 last week with a five-ball duck in the Midlands.

Where his wish to play every ball outside off stump had helped him in England’s chase there, here it resulted in a thick edge to third slip where Gill took a tumbling catch.

Dropped catches were a major factor in India’s inability to close out a win in Leeds but on this occasion they caught every chance.

KL Rahul juggled Pope’s edge at first slip before clinging on and first slip Karun Nair snaffled Crawley, who had begun the innings with two crunching drives.

While Deep’s skiddy nature found seam movement, the 1.1 degrees of swing India found with the new ball was almost double what England had managed.

If any England fans expected Brook to be defensive, they would have been disappointed.

After being beaten twice by Siraj in his opening deliveries and surviving an umpire’s call lbw review to the same bowler, he stepped away to slap the seamer for four and charged him to loft a six.

Having shown the utmost control on day one, Gill increased his intent after his resumption but there was no real increase in jeopardy as India carried on from 310-5.

He edged Chris Woakes through the slips in the second over of the day but that was to a delivery that was a front-foot no-ball anyway. Otherwise he was untroubled as he played a series of glorious drives, pulls and cuts.

England went through their plans. They tried the bouncer ploy with six fielders on the leg side and Brook bowled five overs of his unattractive medium pace which cost 31.

Brook’s introduction allowed Gill to go from 200 to 250 in just 37 deliveries, in the process passing Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 in 1979 to become the highest scoring Indian in an innings in England.

His 200th run had taken India beyond the 471 they made in defeat at Headingley and brought him his first Test double century to go with one in one-day internationals.

England struggled to extract anything from the surface. Josh Tongue found a bit of lift to bounce out Jadeja before lunch and Root a hint of turn to bowl Sundar in the afternoon.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan: “We’re having a summer that’s quite warm, a dry summer. The theory of England chasing, they have chased well and gone 1-0 up in the series, you’ve got to look at the bigger picture sometimes.

“Someone like Shoaib Bashir, he’s a young 21-year-old off-spinner and he keeps getting asked to bowl on day one with nothing there against some quality players and you can’t just be a one-trick pony team where you just think ‘well that’s the way that we play and that’s the way we go about our business’. Will they chase in Australia? I very much doubt it.”

England spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel: “We decided to bowl and we’ll stick by that. On the first day it showed enough for us and we created a lot of opportunities and it didn’t go our way.

England’s lack of penetration with the ball coupled with fitness concerns are an “ominous” sign, says former captain Michael Vaughan.

Ben Stokes’ side toiled throughout the second day at Edgbaston as India piled up 587 before reducing the hosts to 77-3.

Brydon Carse struggled with a recurrence of his foot issues while Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes did not bowl after their first spells.

“Clearly there’s a problem with Brydon Carse and we’re two Test matches into a five-match series in England and then it’s not too long after we’ve got five matches in Australia in the heat on those slabs, some of those drop-in pitches with a Kookaburra ball,” Vaughan said.

“Their [England’s] tactic after 30 overs pretty much is just to whack the ball into the pitch with a square-of-the-wicket field.

Carse was ruled out for three months earlier this year because of serious cuts and blisters on his toes – an issue that first emerged on tours of Pakistan and New Zealand before Christmas.

Although he remained on the field in Birmingham, he was seen hobbling at various times when fielding and in his bowling follow-through.

Stokes, meanwhile, has returned to bowling this year following hamstring surgery.

He was seen stretching his groin on day one and, after a lengthy warm-up before play, opened the bowling on day two.

He delivered four overs for 16 runs but did not return to the attack in the remaining 58 overs of India’s innings. Similarly, Woakes did not feature after his four overs for 22 runs at the start of the day.

Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir bowled 45 overs for 3-167, Josh Tongue struggled as he took 2-119 from 28 overs and even Harry Brook bowled five overs of his part-time seam in their absence.

“India have batted great and with great control but the way England bowled today was a slight concern,” Vaughan said.

The fitness issue is heightened by the fact there are only three days off before this Test and the third at Lord’s next week.

By then England could be boosted by the return of Gus Atkinson, their leading wicket-taker in 2024 who bowled a long and pacey spell in the nets before this match as he recovers from a hamstring injury, while Jofra Archer looks on course to make a long-awaited return to Test cricket too.

India captain Shubman Gill capitalised on England’s struggles and made 267 – the highest score by an India batter in the UK.

That came despite Stokes winning the toss on day one and then continuing his preference to bowl first. India’s score was the highest England have conceded since Stokes became captain.

Bowling coach Jeetan Patel insisted England can still win the match, again following the Stokes mantra of dismissing the prospect of playing for a draw, and said they would not reflect on the toss decision.

“I don’t think you reflect on what’s happened,” the New Zealander said.

“Hindsight’s hindsight. We decided to bowl and we’ll stick by that.

“On the first day it showed enough for us and we created a lot of opportunities and it didn’t go our way. The day might’ve looked different yesterday and this morning if we got those decisions.