At the end ofa sluggish first dayin which just 85 overs were sent down, both sides could feel happier than the slightly short-changed punters.
India? They had been stuck in and responded with 310 for five courtesy of Shubman Gill’s second century of the series. England? Well, they never get too hung up by the runs column and,after last week’s win at Headingley, no one was claiming to be staggered at Ben Stokes bowling first.
Once again the bet from Stokes was that this Edgbaston surface will stay true to the end and, though fifth days are not a thing in the County Championship, the cricket witnessed in B5 this season supports the theory. Nevertheless, Stokes will be keen to shut down his opposite number on the second morning, with Gill’s watchful but typically elegant 114 from 216 balls following an earlier 87 from Yashasvi Jaiswal that was far punchier.
For the second week running there were eyebrows raised at the toss, albeit the trigger was not this latest insertion by Stokes. Instead it was an Indian XI that wasmissing Jasprit Bumrahwho, despite the 1-0 deficit and a week to recharge after Headingley, has been held back for the third Test at Lord’s. “No ifs and buts, he should have been playing,” boomed Ravi Shastri, their former coach, in his familiar oak-panelled voice.
England might have been tempted to do the same for Chris Woakes, such is his remarkable record at the so-called Home ofCricket(even if this would have denied the 36-year-old an outing on the ground he would no doubt hand that title to). But during a morning session that saw India hustle their way to 98 for two, his hour-long opening burst of seven overs, four maidens, one for 15 was the standout from an English perspective.
Woakes had it on a string here – no surprise, perhaps, given he honed his wrist position with a yo-yo during his formative years at Warwickshire – and on another day he could have wiped out the top three with the new ball. Two lbw shouts against Jaiswal, pinned on 12, and Karun Nair, offering no shot on five, were turned down by the umpire Sharfuddoula; both reviews ended with umpire’s call flashing up on the big screen.
Visibly irked on both occasions, Woakes instead had to settle for the solitary removal of KL Rahul who got in a funk against his probing length from the City End and played on to his stumps for a 26-ball two. But the session swung India’s way once Woakes and the notably quick Brydon Carse took a breather, with a bumper barrage from Josh Tongue – interspersed with half-volleys – allowing Jaiswal and Nair to get the scoreboard moving.
It took the return of Carse to even matters up before the break, the fast bowler extracting some extra lift from this flat surface and a catch flying to slip off the shoulder of Nair’s bat. With 31 to his name, and having moved up to No3 as part of India’s rejig, Nair had made the second highest score of his curious Test career, albeit still some way behind that remarkable triple century against England in Chennai seven years ago.
With the early cloud cover making way for blue skies over Brum, Gill happy to bed in and Jaiswal no longer being gifted the short stuff, the afternoon was a comparatively calm affair. India added 84 runs to their stash and the Hollies Stand was dozing. That was until the Botham-esque golden arm of Stokes delivered a caffeine hit 20 minutes before tea, Jaiswal’s eyes lighting up at a long hop only to under-edge the cut shot behind.
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Shoaib Bashir had again been performing a solid holding role for the seamers yet the arrival of Rishabh Pant, fresh from those twin centuries at Headingley, threatened to derail him. One early six whipped over cow corner certainly hinted as much. But after a largely patient start, Pant was undone for 25 courtesy of a brave bit of extra loop from the off-spinner and a fine tumbling catch from Zak Crawley on the rope.
Enter Nitish Kumar Reddy, a young all-rounder organised enough to score a century in Melbourne last December and another part of India’s dramatic reshuffle. It was not an immediate success, however, with 208 for four in the 61st over becoming 211 for five in the 62nd when he was bowled by Woakes offering no shot. The angle did for Reddy here, as well as the latest replacement Dukes ball in a series already littered with them.
But with the experienced Ravindra Jadeja soon chiselling away at the other end, Gill then steered his side to relative safety at stumps and brought up three-figures in the process. India’s captain has already corrected a previously poor record in England on this tour, even if thoughts of what the hosts might do on this surface against an attack shorn of Bumrah are likely to linger.