What a game of cricket! Any suggestion that Test cricket is not as exciting as the shorter forms of the game has been blown out of the water during these 3 and a bit days at Edgbaston. Both Teams had their noses in front at various times of the match, only to have the opposition haul them back in. Ultimately though it was England who finished the stronger and took victory by just 31runs to lead the series 1-0 with 4, I'm sure highly competitive and entertaining Test matches to come.
England's 2nd Innings
Going into the 3rd day, I had already questioned the mentality of England's batsmen against an Indian bowling attack who would quite rightly be pumped up and believe that they had a great chance of skittling this England team for a low score. Keaton Jennings was the first to go, prodding forward to an Ashwin off-break that spun, clipped the edge and flew to 2nd slip. England's left handers now have a real battle on their hands against the master Indian spinner who whilst not finding extravagant spin did just enough to challenge both edges of the bat. Of course the other key area against such a high quality bowler is not to give him any easy wickets. Unfortunately Joe Root did just that in guiding a nothing delivery straight to leg-slip. Had he not seen the fielder positioned there? Either way it was another soft dismal for England's captain at a time when his side needed more fight.
Ishant Sharma then entered the fray and rightly came around the wicket to England's left-handed middle order batsmen Malan and Stokes. I had stated in my day 1 analysis that I found it strange that a right arm bowler who seems only capable of moving the ball one-way (into the right handers and away from the lefties) would want to persist with over the wicket to left-handers. The angle created by him coming around the wicket, angling the ball into the lefties and then looking to straightened it off the pitch got him the wickets of both Malan and Stokes. In between those 2 he also picked up the wicket of Jonny Bairstow who was looking to stay leg-side of the ball and hit through covers but only succeeding in edging the ball. Against the in-swingers of a tall bowler like Sharma this was again brain dead batting from a key England player at a time when they needed him to show a bit of fight and game awareness.
Jos Buttler survived the dreaded pair but then wafted at a wide ball from Sharma and only succeeded in nicking through to Karthik. Buttler, England's new vice-captain had only managed to contribute 1 run in the entire match. Despite having been in tremendous form all summer, the pressure is now on him to step up in the next game. The Buttler dismissal left England 86-6 a lead of exactly 100 and at this point you would have made India firm favourites to go on and claim victory. Sam Curran though had different ideas. Much like with Curran's bowling in the 1st innings, you do wonder if India again just took their foot of the pedal a little in assuming that the 20 year old who was joined by Adil Rashid would not offer much resistance. The pair put on what in the context of the match proved to be a valuable 48 runs for England before Rashid was bowled by Yadav. Curran though wasn't finished as he went to a run a ball half-century which he brought up with an almighty 6 over extra cover. When he was last man out he had taken England to 180 a lead of 194 and while England would undoubtedly have wanted more, Curran had done what Kohli had managed to do in India's first innings and changed the momentum of the whole match in his side's favour.
India's 2nd Innings
For England they knew that they would need to strike early to put Team India under pressure in the run chase. One thing that was undoubtedly in the bowlers favour was that the ball had swung throughout the day and so it continued to do for Broad and Anderson. Broad had been a fairly peripheral figure in India's first innings but he returned in the 2nd innings to get the break through with Murali Vijay shouldering arms to a ball that swung back and hit his pad. Despite being outside the line of off-stump, Viajy was correctly adjudged to have been offering no shot. All of England and particularly Dawid Malan were mighty relieved to have got the break through as the over before Vijay had been dropped by the Middlesex man at 2nd slip. Dhawan soon followed, again showing a vulnerability outside off-stump to a full and swinging Broad delivery that he edged to Bairstow. KL Rahul & Virat Kohli began to rebuild and saw off England's opening bowlers but England will be especially pleased with the impact that Curran and in this innings Stokes have had coming on at first change, an area I had previously suggested India may target as a potential weakness.
Stokes had KL Rahul caught behind off a leg-cutter before Curran dismissed Rahane who bottom edged a wide ball that just carried to the keeper. India made the somewhat surprising decision to promote Ashwin to number 6 to partner the immovable Virat Kohli. The decision though back fired as Ashwin gave Jimmy Anderson his first wicket with another caught behind to leave India 78-5. Karthik and Kohli saw out the final 10overs of the day with England striving for that 6th wicket which would give them the edge going into day 4. I had written in my analysis of Day 2 that this match reminded me very much the 2005 Ashes game at the same ground which must go down as one of the greatest and most entertaining of all time. In that game England found themselves trying bowl out the Aussies on the 3rd evening and Steve Harmison produced an absolute beauty of a slower ball to get rid of Michael Clarke late on. However on this occasion there was to be no such heroics and India went into the final day needing just 84 to win with England needing 5 wickets including that of Virat Kohli who once was once again a model of concentration and technique in keeping his side in it.
For England, going into the final day they knew they needed an early wicket to get the crowd behind them and the bowlers to believe that they could win this game. James Anderson, using all his experience and skill provided just that start as he induced an edge from Karthik which Dawid Malan swallowed at 2nd slip. Suddenly England were up and they were taking their chances! Pandya joined Kohli at the crease and despite being beaten on his outside edge a few times it was clear he meant business. As Anderson and Broad began to tire, Kohli and Pandya began to pick up runs with the captain going to his half century albeit with muted celebration. Root decided that Ben Stokes, the talisman of the England team was to be the man who would give England the breakthrough they needed and he duly delivered. Kohli who has looked like a brick wall during this Test match, fell across to the off-side too far in trying to negate the out-swing and was trapped LBW to a ball that dipped in late to his pads. It was a ploy that Anderson in particular had attempted a few times in the first innings and you would imagine will come into play again later in the series if Kohli continues with his plan to get himself closer to the ball outside off-stump .
When later in the same over Stokes removed Shami for a duck, the game was quickly turning in England's favour. Joe Root turned to Adil Rashid to try and bamboozle the tailenders and he did just the trick with Sharma LBW once again not picking the googly. That left India needing 40 runs for their final wicket and despite a couple of meaty blows from Pandya who entered into a verbal spat with Ben Stokes, it was the England all-rounder who had the last laugh as Pandya edged Stokes to Cook at 1st slip to spark wild celebrations amongst the England players and fans.
Match Analysis
It's been a breathless 3 and a bit days of cricket. This was England's 1000th Test and they have celebrated it both with victory and a timely reminder of why all true cricket lovers value this form of the game more than any other. There is a simple saying in Chinese 万岁 (wan sui) which literally translated means 10,000 more years but more accurately speaking is the equivalent of saying "long-live the king/queen". Test cricket is the king and on the evidence of this match and the way that both sets of players have thrown themselves into the contest it should remain a force in the sport for 10,000 more years and many Tests to come. At some point I will write a full blog post on what the authorities need to do to help secure that future.
England you'd have to say they have gotten away with a very patchy performance but you must give them credit for saving their best until last with the magnificent innings of Curran backed up by a great team bowling effort to get them the win that they dearly needed. Curran for his part has proved a revelation in this Test and was named man of the match for his 5 wickets and counter attacking half century (Kohli may be a little surprised not to have gotten the accolade himself). One thing I have never doubted about Sam Curran is the confidence he possesses in himself. Perhaps not everyone watches quite as much cricket as I do but if you fancy seeing just how confident young Sam is then i'd suggest you watch the North v South series which can still be found on Sky TV. In it the cameras follow not only the cricketing action but also go behind the scenes to meet the current crop of county players looking to break into the International arena. Curran, who was just 19 at the time, comes across as a young man with something of an ego but equally as a player with a burning desire to succeed. I think most cricket watchers would recognise that this is a combination that is often necessary to succeed at the highest level e.g. Virat Kohli. The key for Curran and for his England teammates as a collective, will be to get their feet back on the ground and analyse the many areas they need to improve upon for the next Test which begins on Thursday at Lords.
Man of the Match Sam Curran
I can’t take it all in, it is all very special. I am sure I will sleep well tonight as I didn’t get any sleep last night!
You have to feel for Indian Captain, Virat Kohli who has put his heart and soul into his performance in this Test. You could conceivably argue that as an individual he has one every battle only to end up losing the war. As their Captain I'm sure that his own personal performance will melt into the background of his team's collective failure to win the match and I'm sure that will hurt him. Certainly from a batting perspective India must find a way to follow the incredible example that their leader has set. None of India's top order looked capable of reigning in their desire to chase the ball around off-stump with the exception of Kohli.
As a bowling unit, all of the bowlers with the exception of Yadav had a positive impact on the game and in taking 20 English wickets, India are far from done in this series. Might India choose to play another specialist batsman in place of Pandya at Lord's? For England we already know that they will be missing Ben Stokes who will be having his day in court. Who can fill his sizeable shoes and will England consider dropping the out of form Malan? There are so many decisions to make and you suspect a lot of drama to come in this 5 match series.
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