India and England are two of the strongest teams in world cricket at the moment. There is as much excitement in their duality as there should be in the Edgbaston Test.
England took five wickets for 98 runs on the first day. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja gave a great response. England then fell under batting pressure. From there, Jonny Bairstow kept the team fighting by scoring a century. The match came at the end of the fourth day but leaned towards England. England scored 259 for three with a target of 378 to win. They need 119 more to win.
Behind their return, England has two of their best batsmen, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. At the end of the day, Root was unbeaten on 76 runs. Bairstow is batting on 72 runs.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla said, “Even in this situation, I am not giving up hope.” Because a lot can happen on the last day pitch. Especially in England. Where the weather also becomes important. If the sky is cloudy in the morning, the ball can swing. And India have fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah-Mohammed Shami to take advantage of that situation. Mohammed Siraj can also take wickets at any time. So the game could turn around in an hour. Five or six wickets can fall in 100 runs. I admit, India’s work is difficult. But on the last day of Test cricket, many calculations get reversed.
However, India made two big mistakes on the day of the previous match. One in fielding, the other in captaincy. In the beginning, Hanuma Vihari threw Siraj’s ball in the catch slip of Bairstow. And during the batting Root-Bairstow, I noticed a very negative mentality in the fielding arrangement. Mid-on-mid-off was also postponed due to pacers. Not on the boundary line, but standing where the fielders can’t stop a run.
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Shukla said, “I don’t know if this strategy was taken keeping in mind the explosive batting skills of Bairstow. However, this loosened the pressure on England. Root-Bairstow kept the scoreboard running with retail runs. At no time did the pressure increase.”
India’s second innings ended on Monday with 245 runs. England had to play with a target of 378 runs. In this situation, the England openers created a good stage for the team. The opening pair went up to 107 runs. When India seemed to be under pressure, England lost three wickets in a row. Jasprit Bumrah broke the partnership. The second victim of Bumrah was Ollie Pope. Alex Lees returned after two runs. Became run out. It took three overs to go from 107-0 to 109-3. Bumrah and team have to take wickets so fast from the beginning of today.
Rishabh Pant batted very well in the second innings as well as in the first innings. After scoring a century in the first innings, a half century was scored from Rishabh’s bat. However, Rishabh could have hit left-arm spinner Jack Leach without hitting the reverse sweep.