There was no Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or R Ashwin. There was no Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s best bowler, either. This was Shubman Gill’s new team that came roaring back when pushed to a corner. Trailing 0-1 after the defeat in a Test they should have won at Leed’s, Shubman Gill’s boys, in about a week’s time, overcame the Headingley heartbreak to win at Edgbaston and level the series.
Shubman Gill’s first Test triumph as captain was about him leading from the front, lifting his deflated team, trusting his players, calling out England’s Bazball bravado and in the bargain entering the record books, a habit with him now.
Powered by the captain Shubman Gill’s record-breaking 430 runs aggregate in this Test, and inspired by the seam-duo of Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep accounting for 17 wickets together, the young and largely inexperienced team made more history with their 336-run win. This was India’s first-ever Test triumph at Edgbaston and this was the biggest margin of victory on foreign soil.
Shubman Gill is in all praise of Mohammed Siraj and AkashDeep after a thumping 336 runs win
India beat England by 336 runs on Sunday (July 6) to win the second Test of the ongoing five-match series. On the fifth and final day of the red-ball match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, Akash Deep picked up his maiden five-wicket haul (total 6) in the second innings to help Shubman Gill’s side bowl England out for 271 runs in 68.1 overs in reply to the 608-run target.
27-year-old Akash Deep, who got a chance to play in Birmingham after Jasprit Bumrah was rested as part of his workload management, made the most of the opportunity by taking six wickets for 99 runs in the second innings in addition to 4 for 88 in the first. He finished the match with figures of 10 for 187, which is the best by an Indian bowler in a Test match played in England. Apart from Akash, Mohammed Siraj also impressed with his bowling in Birmingham. The Hyderabad-based cricketer picked up 6 wickets for 70 runs in the first innings.
India’s captain Shubman Gill, who scored 269 and 161 runs in the two innings of the Birmingham Test, credited the two pacers for the team’s memorable win. He lauded Akash Deep and Siraj for stepping up in the absence of Bumrah and said that their combined 17-wicket haul made his job as captain significantly “easier.”
“When your two fast bowlers take 17 wickets, then it becomes easy for the skipper. Bumrah bhai was not there, but the bowlers we have in the squad are capable of taking 20 wickets in a match,” Gill told former India batting star Cheteshwar Pujara on JioHotstar after the team’s win.
Having been comprehensively beaten in the opening Test, Shubman Gill credited the turnaround to improved execution with the ball and sharper fielding.
“There have been a lot of instances where we have lost the first match of the series, and then we have made comebacks. So we knew how to make comebacks. If we consistently score 450 runs, our bowlers will keep us in the game.”
“All the things we spoke about after the last game, we were spot on with all of those things. I think the way we came back with our bowling and fielding was tremendous to see,” Shubman Gill said at the post-match presentation.
India’s dominant win was set up by Shubman Gill himself, who scored a stunning 269 in the first innings and followed it up with 161 in the second, laying the foundation for the massive 608-run target.
“On this kind of wicket, we knew that if we got 400-500 runs, it would be enough. Not every game will be like Headingley. They (bowlers) were magnificent. The way we were able to get through their top order, they bowled brilliantly.”
Over the past five days, Shubman Gill was being seen in a new light. But the captain wasn’t getting carried away. In a low-key press conference, with the tone of his voice giving no hint of the scale of his achievement, the captain treated this as just another day.
With the next Test starting in only three days’ time, it would be interesting to see what sort of pitch the hosts prepare, considering the result in Birmingham. Â India on the other hand, whose chances were doubted after England’s fine win in Headingley last week, leave Birmingham with their first Test victory at Edgbaston at the ninth attempt.It also brilliantly sets up the remainder of the series, which continues at Lord’s on Thursday having a series levelled at 1-1.
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