Trisha Ghosal in Birmingham
There was a chill in the Edgbaston breeze and tension in the press box. India had England on the ropes. Joe Root and Ben Stokes—England’s heart and spine—were gone in the first half-hour. The Dukes ball was seaming, zipping, and doing all the things it promised in an English July. The Indian attack, led by Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep, was breathing fire. But that theatre faded fast.
Soon, the crowd came alive—cheering louder with each boundary, rising with every elegant Harry Brook flick and Jamie Smith drive. By the time the 100-run stand came up, the hum had turned into a roar. The Indian fielders looked flat, and the only time the chilly Edgbaston breeze felt heavier was when the ball left the hands of someone other than Siraj or Akash. You could almost feel the energy drifting away from the visitors with every over from the rest.
Here’s the cold truth: India took all 10 England wickets with the new ball. With the old one, they looked like they were holding on for dear life. Across 50 overs with the softer ball, the rest of the attack conceded 244 runs without taking a single wicket. Siraj and Akash Deep bowled 39.3 overs between them and took all ten wickets for 158 runs. The others? Zero breakthroughs, leaking runs at over 5 an over.
Also Read: Mohammed Siraj and the Triumph of Innocence
And that’s where India’s selection gamble stares back at them. In pursuit of extra batting muscle, they picked Washington Sundar over Kuldeep Yadav. Sundar’s 42 with the bat was useful—but Test matches aren’t won by batting till No. 9. They are won by bowling sides out. And by that measure, India have left a dagger on the table.
Prasidh Krishna’s radar went missing. Sundar’s off-spin was unthreatening. And when Brook and Smith began the rebuild, there was no Kuldeep-type option to turn to—no variation, no left-arm angle, no risk-reward bowler to break the stand.
Standing at Edgbaston, every run England scored felt like a turn in the tide. The crowd sensed it. India didn’t. And that’s what may haunt them. They are 244 ahead. They may have to declare after batting with a good tempo, and hope the new-ball magic returns. But Edgbaston might just remember this Test for the bowler they didn’t pick—and the win that slipped through the fingers because of it.
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