New Delhi: With their leading wicket-taker Jasprit Bumrah unavailable, the team bouncing back from a defeat in the first Test, untested bowling mix, and rain threatening to spoil the final day, the odds were stacked against them. Yet, India delivered a dominant performance and broke the Birmingham jinx, registering its first win at the venue on its ninth attempt.
India also recorded its biggest win margin in away Tests. The side’s previous best win-margin outside India was 317 runs which it managed against West Indies at North Sound in 2019.
For England, the Birmingham defeat became the second-heaviest Test defeat by runs against India, behind the 434-run loss in Rajkot in 2024.
While the win was a collective team effort, three standout performers stole the spotlight: Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, and the one who came out of the blue—Akash Deep.
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Gill led the batting charge
India put up a daunting target of 608 runs, courtesy Gill’s record-breaking Test performance where he scored 269 and 161 across the two innings.
Gill broke Virat Kohli’s record (293) for most runs by an Indian captain in a Test, scoring 430 runs. And, he also cruised past Sunil Gavaskar’s record (344) for the highest match aggregate by an Indian in a Test.
He is now the second Indian to score a double century and a century in the same Test, after Gavaskar. But Gill is the first player in Test history to score both a 250 and a 150 in the same match.
Gill’s 269 is now the highest score by an Indian captain (previous record was Kohli’s 254* vs South Africa in 2019), highest score by an Indian batter in England (previous record was Gavaskar’s 221 vs England in 1979), highest score by an Indian captain in an away Test (previous record was Kohli’s 200 vs West Indies in 2016).
He has now scored 524 runs in four innings as captain, and could threaten Don Bradman’s all-time record of 974 runs in a series if his form continues.
In both innings, Gill received brief but significant support from the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and KL Rahul—all of whom played aggressive cameos but failed to convert them into substantial innings.
Meanwhile for England, none could replicate the performance with the bat. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and Harry Brook were the only ones to trouble Indian bowlers—smashing 184 & 88 and 158 & 23 across both innings.
Notably, England lost six batters for a duck in the first innings, against an Indian attack without their No.1 man Jasprit Bumrah.
They became the ninth team in Test history to experience such a collapse.
Brook and Smith added 303 runs for the sixth wicket, recording the second-highest sixth-wicket partnership for England in Tests.
But their efforts failed to help England catch up with the target, let alone get a lead. Following which, India ended the third day with a lead of 244 and nine wickets in hand.
Outside of Brook and Smith, Joe Root with just 22 was England’s next best score.
Picking ‘20 wickets’
The playing XI for the second Test raised a lot of questions—especially the decision to leave out Kuldeep Yadav when Jasprit Bumrah was rested. It seemed strange. But the captain and coach clearly had a plan.
And, they delivered—scalped all 20 wickets.
On a flat pitch at Edgbaston, Mohammed Siraj led the way with a brilliant bowling performance that helped bowl England out for 408—despite a massive 303-run partnership between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith.
His effort, complemented by Akash Deep’s 4/88, gave India a huge 180-run lead in the first innings of the second Test.
Siraj took 6 wickets for 70 runs, including wickets of Zak Crawley, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes. He also cleared the tail attack—Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, and Shoaib Bashir.
His outstanding performance reignited conversations about how he’s often underrated compared to his more high-profile teammates.
He showed that when he’s not overshadowed by bigger names and gets more responsibility, Siraj often performs better. When he’s the third seamer, he usually doesn’t get the new ball and often has to play a supporting role. As the second or lead seamer, he’s more aggressive and gets more chances to attack.
Beyond the numbers, Siraj is a skilled fast bowler with great control, a solid outswinger (even if it goes missing sometimes) and a tricky wobble-seam delivery.
Interestingly, his second Test match success didn’t come from making drastic changes. He didn’t bowl fuller or shorter, nor did he extract more seam. The swing remained consistent to what it was at Leeds.
The key difference was an adjustment in his line. He bowled straighter, a smart move on a slower, lower pitch.
His deliveries in the off-stump channel dropped from 47.5% in Leeds to 42.9% in this Test, while his straight-line deliveries rose from 22.5% to 33.8%, as projected during the match.
Notably, his spell is the first instance of a visiting pacer taking a six-wicket haul at Edgbaston since 1993. His bowling figures are also the third-best by a pacer from an away team. Not just that, Siraj is one of only five pacers to take a five-wicket haul against England at Edgbaston, alongside Imran Khan (1982) and Chetan Sharma (1986).
Siraj himself summed it up after the match: “I’ve been waiting for a five-wicket haul for a year. I kept getting stuck at four. I was bowling well but not getting wickets. This is a very special moment, especially because I only had four-fors in England before.”
Tribute to ailing sister
If Siraj tore through England’s batting on Day 1, it was Akash Deep who took charge in the second innings.
After claiming four wickets in the first innings, Akash continued to trouble the English batters in the second. On Day 4, he dismissed Ben Duckett and Joe Root in the final session. Following a brief rain delay on the morning of Day 5, he clean-bowled Ollie Pope and trapped Harry Brook lbw shortly after.
He went on to pick up six wickets in the second innings, finishing with a 10-wicket match haul. With the figures, he became only the second Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma to achieve this feat in a Test match in England.
Though Akash bowled well in Australia earlier in the year, he could not pick up many wickets. But, in the second Test against England, he hit hard lengths and subtle moments at the crease, adjusting his movement to the pitch—going wide when needed and coming closer to the stumps bringing in more variation.
In a heartfelt post-match interview with Cheteshwar Pujara, Akash dedicated his performance to his sister. “I haven’t told anyone this—my elder sister was diagnosed with cancer two months ago. She’s stable now, but it’s been a tough time mentally for her. She’ll be so happy with my performance. I was constantly thinking about her throughout the match,” he shared.
While England captain Ben Stokes and former cricketer Michael Vaughan pointed to the “flat pitch,” the reality is that India gave a strong and fitting response to Bazball after their defeat in the first Test.
With momentum firmly on their side, India are now head to Lord’s for the third Test on July 10. As Shubman Gill confirmed, Jasprit Bumrah will return to the squad—making India’s playing XI selection all the more intriguing.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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