Credit: X
After rain delayed the start of the first session on day five of the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham by an hour and 40 minutes, India began their defense of 607-run total in style with right-arm medium fast bowler Akash Deep breathing fire with the ball. England, who were 72/3 at the close of play on day four, lost the wickets of overnight batters Ollie Pope and Harry Brook in quick succession with some exceptional bowling at the stumps from Akash Deep.
The first wicket to fall on day five was Ollie Pope, who got a fuller length delivery from Akash Deep aimed at his stumps, to which he tried to play a defensive shot, only for him to chop the ball on to the stumps, ending his innings on 24 runs in 50 balls with three fours. In his next over, Akash Deep completely deceived Harry Brook with a wobble seam delivery, which came back in sharply from the pitch, to which the batter could play an awkward shot, missing the ball by a country mile before it hit his pad.
Harry Brook was lbw for 23 off 31 with three fours, which meant that England found themselves 83/5 in the 22nd over, needing a further 525 runs in just under 80 overs with only half the batting lineup available to them. With that, it is highly likely that England will be happy with earning a draw despite some of their players asserting how the team will go after any target given by an opponent.
For India, it will be vital to pick up the remaining five wickets, to not only win a Test match for the first-time ever at Edgbaston, Birmingham, but also level the five-match Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at 1-1.
Below are the playing XIs of England and India for the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
