With Brendon McCullum at the helm of the English Test side, it was always expected that England will come out with an attacking mindset.
Virat Kohli has had a lot of problems lately and even after trying he just is not being able to fix his bad patch. He had a dismal run in last year's T20I World Cup and could not deliver to his potential and his stature even in the Indian Premier League.
Unfortunately, English skipper Ben Stokes bowled a beauty of a delivery which kicked off the pitch, it was too late for Virat to hold his shot and the ball travelled to Sam Billings, who fumbled, but former English skipper Joe Root completed the catch.
After Rahul Dravid retired, Pujara was bestowed with the responsibility of batting at India for no.3 and control the innings.
While the other Indian greats were busy playing the star-studded Indian Premier League, Pujara was busy playing Test cricket and preparing himself for the last Test match of the series to be played against England.
With five slip fielders in place and James Anderson steaming in, both Gill and Pujara were expected to play out the first hour. English veteran Anderson kept bowling outside off and Shubhman Gill fell prey to his tactics.
Before the Kohli clash, Bairstow scored 13 off 61 deliveries and after the Kohli clash, Bairstow amassed 93 off 79 deliveries. Bairstow then went on to score a magnificent 100 and helped England reach a respectable total.
After some time, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow had some fiery verbal exchange and as a result, Jonny Bairstow took off and started tonking the ball to all corners of the park.
With rain plaguing almost two sessions, India did not hold themselves back. They restricted England to 86/5 with their man in form Joe Root gone.
When India landed in the United Kingdom for their limited over series and the one-off Test match, captain Rohit Sharma was expected to be a part of the final playing eleven in all seven matches, but unfortunately, the Indian skipper went down with COVID-19
India is touring England once again and the problem just doesn't seem to end. The first day's play at Edgbaston was briefly delayed but come day 2, things and the situation worsened as two sessions were hampered by three rain delays.
With Mohammad Shami at the other end, Stuart Broad was invited to the attack. The English veteran made no mistake as he claimed Mohammad Shami's wicket. His 550th scalp in Test cricket.
Plagued by injury concerns, Jadeja missed the T20I series against South Africa and he was straightaway sent to the United Kingdom for India's English tour.
Skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and invited India to bat first sensing the overcast conditions. The likes of James Anderson, Matthew Potts, and Stuart Broad gained the huge benefit of the environment and they delivered as expected.
Pant scored a blistering 146 off 111 deliveries and raced ahead of MS Dhoni's record of scoring 100 off 93 deliveries outside India. In his blistering innings, Pant hit 20 fours and 4 sixes and scored at a strike rate of 131.53.
Few are calling it lack of form, few are calling it bad luck. When it comes to Virat and his poor outings, there is always a mixed bag of reactions.
With Rohit Sharma missing the final Test match, Virat was expected to play big innings and hold one end, but he failed to do it. After the rain break when play resumed, Matthew Potts ran in and put Kohli into double minds.
Eoin Morgan backed the players like Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, and Jonny Bairstow.
Morgan had been in a rough patch recently and was struggling to put bat to ball and was plagued with injuries. When asked about his plans to lead the English team, Morgan had said that he still had in him what it took to win another World Cup,
"All emergency services are working hard but we need your help. Avoid the area. Do not post images from the scene online - think of those involved," West Midlands Police wrote on Twitter.
Top News
Latest News
