India made history after winning their maiden Test match in Edgbaston, Birmingham, against England’s Bazball.

A captain’s knock by Shubman Gill in both innings of the Second Test match and some inspirational bowling helped India to level the series 1-1 in the 5 Match Test series of the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy

With the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, India was fighting an uphill battle to level the series after losing the first Test in Leeds a week back.

India hammered  England by 336 runs in Birmingham, their first win in this iconic venue.

In Short

• India, finally wins in Birmingham after 9 unsuccessful attempts

• Mohammed Siraj takes 6 wickets in the first innings.

• Shubman Gill scored 430 runs in the match with back-to-back centuries in both innings. First player to score double hundred and 150-plus in the same Test.

• Akash Deep is the first Indian pacer in 39 years to take a 10-wicket match haul in a Test in England

Captain Shubman Gill scored 269 and 161 in the match which helped India bat England out of the competition.

The Indian bowlers took up the responsibility to cover the absence of their main strike bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, to deliver a match-winning bowling performance in both innings of the Test match.

Mohammed Siraj took 6 wickets in the first innings, while Akash Deep finished the match with a 10-wicket match haul, helping India to win the Edgbaston Test match.

After 9 unsuccessful attempts at the venue, India was finally able to win at Edgbaston.

The Indian team produced a clinical show in all three departments, levelling the series 1-1 after two gripping Tests.

India corrects their mistakes

India corrected their mistakes from the first Test. They took their catches, out-batted England, and took wickets in the second Test.

Washington Sundar added to the playing eleven, helped India to strengthen their bowling and lower-order batting, which turned out to be a master stroke.

Ravindra Jadeja, with twin fifties, and Washington Sundar, with a vital 40 in the first innings, added to India’s lead.

The First Innings was largely helped by the Gill-Jadeja 200+ partnership for the sixth wicket that changed the match in India’s favour.

Bazball – Exposed by India

Bazball pride has taken a body blow in the second Test. This is England’s biggest home defeat in the Bazball era.

The “Bazball” era, known for its attacking and aggressive style of play in Test Cricket, created a lot of buzz initially, but now is getting severely criticised.

The initial Bazball era saw impressive wins at home, and Bazball was widely romanticized. Most wins came with lower-ranked teams, so wins looked spectacular.

It has also shown its flaws, especially when facing stronger opposition on challenging pitches. The team cannot also grind and play for time when there is collapse.

Bazball, over the time, has become very predictable and not effective enough for Test cricket.

Bazball believes that their batsmen can chase any total in the 4^th innings and so prefers to bowl first in any condition. Playing in flat, placid wickets suited England’s Bazball style against weaker opponents, but not against stronger opponents.

After the second Test loss, Stokes’ excuse about the pitch becoming like a ‘subcontinental surface’ was not taken lightly by the press and fans. With only 2 wickets to the spinners, the Edgbaston wickets can be anything but called a subcontinental pitch.

India’s dominance with Bat and Ball has left Bazball completely ineffective.

The English press have been critical of captain Ben Stokes’ form with batting form. Stokes has managed scores of 20, 33, 0, and 33 in the current series.

Six English batters fell for ducks in the first innings. It was only Jamie Smith’s unbeaten 184 and Harry Brook’s 158 in the first innings that kept England in the contest. England’s disappointing display in the second test has completely exposed  England’s Bazball approach.

Their inability to bat the day for a draw on a flat deck has forced fans to question the Bazball approach.

Stokes’ decision to send India into bat on a flat deck backfired spectacularly, and India took full advantage of this blunder. India became just the sixth side in Test history to score more than 1000 runs in a match.

England’s approach of bullying teams on placid tracks is similar to some teams relying too much on turners or green tracks. Critics of the approach often have mentioned that England adopts the Bazball approach due to lack of technically sound batsmen like Joe Root, not having good seamers as they did in the Anderson-Broad era, or having quality spinners like Graham Swan. Playing in England’s traditional grassy, swing-friendly conditions does not suit the current England lineup. England’s batting technique got exposed when they could not bat three and a half sessions on a flat Edgbaston wicket for a draw.

So, Bazball is nothing but a cover-up for a one-dimensional side. A good bowling track exposes the batsman, and a flat batting deck exposes the bowlers.

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