Credit: BCCI
On Sunday, July 6, India defeated England by 336 runs in the second Test, their first-ever win in the longest format of the game at Edgbaston in Birmingham, to level the five-match series at 1-1. In the post-match presentation, when former England captain Nasser Hussain asked Shubman Gill, the captain of India, about whether star pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be available for the third Test of the series at Lord’s in London, to which the latter responded “definitely”.
Notably, Jasprit Bumrah was available for selection for the second Test this week, but he wasn’t picked by the Indian team management, who were keeping an eye on his workload management for the five-match series. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, his replacement Akash Deep stepped-up big time, to pick up a 10-wicket match bag, including a six-wicket haul in the England second innings while defending 607-run total, playing a key role in India’s memorable win.
Akash Deep picked final wicket of England's second innings to secure Test win for India
Over the course of the five days, India thoroughly outplayed England with the bat, ball, and in the field, and the captain Shubman Gill led from the front with a double century in the first innings and a century in the second innings, scoring a whopping 430 runs in the Test match. Apart from Gill and Deep, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Siraj also made impressive contributions at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
The Indian team celebrated the series levelling win in style after Shubman Gill fittingly took the catch of Brydon Carse on the bowling of Akash Deep, which was the final wicket to fall in England’s second innings. For his incredible batting performance across both the innings, joining Sunil Gavaskar as the second Indian player to score a double century and a century, Shubman Gill was given the player of the match award.
There will be just a three-day gap before the third Test of the five-match series begins at Lord’s in London on Thursday, July 10, where the weather is expected to be quite hot throughout the course of five days.
