Shubman Gill surged into the record books as ruthless India drew level at Edgbaston with mammoth 336-run statement victory.
England’s Edgbaston demolition at the hands of a resurgent India suggests this summer’s five-Test series will be the hosts’ toughest assessment so far on home soil.
In yet another run feast – 1,692 runs scored in all between the two sides, topping the record set at Headingley a week or so prior (1,673) – India’s fury with the bat and finesse with the ball overwhelmed Ben Stokes’ laboured England side.
With the hallowed turf of Lord’s beckoning, Cricket Paper writer Mohan Harihar revisits the Edgbaston Test – India’s first win at the venue – and discusses six talking points and what they mean for both sides moving forward.
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Stokes calls wrong at the toss
If Stokes’ decision at the toss at Headingley lit the fuse for questioning the tactic, his call at Edgbaston emphatically blew apart the foundations of one of Bazball’s fundamental tenets.
Once again opting to bowl first on a hot day and a flat pitch – perhaps flatter than at Headingley – India finished Day 1 on 310-5 before eventually being bowled out for 587.
At one stage England found themselves in a promising position to salvage some respectability following the contentious decision at the toss, reducing India to 211-5.
However, a ruthless 203-run stand between Gill and Ravindra Jadeja, followed by a 144-run partnership between the skipper and Washington Sundar, shattered any hope of vindicating Stokes’ decision to bowl first.
Coach Brendon McCullum later conceded: ‘I think as the game unfolded we probably looked back on that toss and said ‘did we miss an opportunity there?’ and it’s probably fair.’
The hubris of Stokes and his insistence on chasing on such pitches – in addition to squirming at any notion of a draw – was becoming more precarious with every outing. At Edgbaston, it reached its tipping point.
Fans of Bazball have been thrilled by the highs accompanying this philosophy; only a week prior were the heroics of Ben Duckett in a record-breaking fourth-innings run chase being praised.
Yet, despite the evidence in favour of Stokes’ unique philosophy, there are viable doubts as to the sustainability and longevity of this strategy for a team, hopefully, aiming to become a well-rounded side across conditions.
For the bowlers – a crop with a long history of injuries – bounding in in successive Tests when the pitches are arguably at their flattest on Days 1 and 2 is no good thing.
Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood will be returning from long layoffs. In a cruel twist of fate, England’s greatest assets with the ball – along with the skipper himself – are at the greatest risk of irreparable damage with the ‘we will chase’ strategy.
Cricket is a fickle game. Stokes’ strategy was unquestionably the jump-start England needed in the summer of 2022 after a lethargic end to its preceding era of Test cricket, a period which saw only one win from 17 Tests from a set up that was criticised for lacking imagination.
But are England now running the risk of becoming too one-dimensional, entertainment notwithstanding?
READ MORE: Jofra Archer looks ‘ready to go’ in ‘blockbuster’ third Test – Brendon McCullum
Bazballers beaten at their own game, while India play the perfect game
The script Stokes has turned to since being at the helm – bat big, bat fast and shoot the opposition’s morale in the process – was flipped on them at Edgbaston.
India studiously learned from their mistakes at Headingley, this time piling on the runs when the pitch was at its flattest and grinding England’s bowlers into the dirt.
To say Bazball was blindsided would be a disservice to India, who played the perfect game with bat, ball and in the field.
In contrast, Bazball reverted to a display that has flirted with fans ever since the so-called Bazball v2.0 launched last summer.
From reckless strokes in the final hour of Day 2 to bold comments from Harry Brook suggesting no target was too great for this side, it was an unwanted throwback to a style of play that seemed more preoccupied with ostentatiousness than function.
On a pitch which eventually produced the highest aggregate in a single Test between the two sides, England squandered opportunities to repay the hurt with bat in hand.
Almost in a hurry to indulge in dishing out the pain themselves, Zak Crawley, Duckett and Ollie Pope launched futile attempts to bully the disciplined new-ball Indian bowlers in their first innings.
Top-order collapses in a short space of time (25-3 in 7.1 overs in the first innings and 50-3 in 10.2 overs in the second innings) curtly abbreviated England’s retorts before they could ever get going.
It was a familiar tale which unfolded last summer against Sri Lanka at The Oval that allowed the Lankans to claw their way back to a famous win. Then again at Hamilton in December, there was a re-run of England’s horror flick with the bat which saw them lose by 423 runs.
Confidence and self-indulgence have uncomfortably jostled with one another during Bazball’s three-year tango; Edgbaston was yet another pirouette in this dissonant dance.
Stokes’ men have pulled off some of modern Test cricket’s most improbable heists – Edgbaston 2022, Hyderabad 2024, Multan 2024, Headingley 2025.
In the same breath, however, they have returned some of English cricket’s heaviest defeats, the latest being Edgbaston 2025.
Is there a need for a Bazball v3.0 – one which reduces the gulf between the heady highs and the lamentable lows?
Gill propels himself into record books
With the sun shining and the runs flowing for the Indian batters, one would have thought it was an Indian summer at Edgbaston.
For India’s captain Shubman Gill, it certainly has been.
After an arduous captaincy debut at Headingley in which his side fell just short, Gill was faced with a myriad of questions.
Why Shardul Thakur? Why no Jasprit Bumrah at Edgbaston? Why no Kuldeep Yadav?
India’s team selection and composition may be a dynamically developing storyline as the series progresses, but the one constant currently rooting Gill firmly to the ground is his batting.
Gill’s returns in the first two Tests are at the doorstep of the greats of the game.
At Edgbaston, he scored the most runs for an Indian captain in a single innings (269), surpassing Virat Kohli’s 254*.
He became the first batter in history to score a double ton and a 150 in the same Test.
His match aggregate of 430 runs is now the second-most in a single Test after Graham Gooch (456); this is also the most runs scored against England in a single game.
With 585 runs from just two Tests, and three more to go, India’s captain is on track to chase down the record for the most runs in a series by any batter (974 scored by Sir Donald Bradman in the 1930 Ashes).
Shutting out the noise of his naysayers before the series, Gill has exuded class, regal batsmanship with an evolved technique, and a steely determination as a leader: an iron fist in a velvet glove.
Jamie Smith grows in stature
Although Bazball came back down to Earth with a resounding crash, the shining light for the hosts was Jamie Smith.
Only turning 25 later this month, it is hard to fathom the maturity he has exhibited in his international career to-date.
On the back of nearly two days in the field and the tumult of a top-order collapse, Smith’s calmness and low-heartbeat persona was the antidote for the frenzy the team found itself in.
His first-innings 184* was the perfect blend of counterattacking with control – or ‘Bazball with brains’ – capturing the ideal batting tempo if this aggressive blueprint must be adhered to.
Along with a second-innings 88, Smith leapfrogged Alec Stewart (204) to score the most runs for an English wicketkeeper in a single Test (272).
Additionally, this was the third highest aggregate for a wicketkeeper in a Test match behind only Andy Flower who holds the first (341) and second (287) positions.
Smith’s 303-run riposte with Brook (158) threatened to do the unthinkable. However, this was a bridge too far even for the host’s new golden boys on the block.
An interesting discussion has started as to whether Smith deserves a slot above captain Stokes as a pure batter, given the latter’s poor returns since January 2024 (697 runs at an average of 26.80).
For now, it seems that at least coach McCullum has no interest in entertaining this proposition, stating: ‘He’s just developing at rapid speed, and from our point of view, we’re very happy with him at number seven and with the gloves on.’
Bumrah-less India grasps all 20 wickets
The biggest concern for India coming into Edgbaston was the quality and incisiveness of the bowling outside of Jasprit Bumrah.
Many felt spin needed a larger role within India’s plans, with calls for Kuldeep Yadav to be selected.
Instead, coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Gill doubled down on their belief to bat England into an unknown waters – a space where a draw was their best-case scenario.
In the end, this tickled Bazball’s ego and evoked the response Gill was searching for.
Throughout the Test, India’s bowlers exploited the new ball expertly, bowling tight lines and forcing the batters to play.
Seam movement abandoned England’s bowlers while engaging in a warm embrace with India’s.
Between Mohammad Siraj and Akash Deep, they took 17 of the 20 English wickets to fall.
Deep (10-187) especially exploited any sliver of assistance on offer, including a widening crack on the fifth-stump channel on Day 5, to continually threaten the off stump.
It was an exhibition of seam bowling on a pitch that, while flat, presented an iota of hope for the bowlers as the game wore on. In the end, this was the difference between the two sides.
With a well-rested Bumrah set to play at Lord’s, India’s bowling attack of Bumrah, Deep and a revitalised Siraj looks a potent and penetrative trio.
England have a brainteaser ahead of Lord’s having to juggle battle-weary bowlers following back-to-back Tests with the matchwinning potential of pacers returning from extended injury layoffs.
Pitch imperfect’?
There was commentary from both captains on the pitches at Headingley and Edgbaston.
On a pitch where 17 of England’s wickets fell to seam, Stokes curiously likened the Edgbaston pitch to a ‘subcontinent’ wicket, raising some eyebrows.
Head-scratching comments are nothing new with the Bazball movement, and this very well could have been the words from a captain with a scrambled brain following a heavy loss.
But in saying this, was it also a casual admission of the side’s limitations?
Meanwhile India’s captain slammed the pitches, along with ball quality, stating ‘it gets very difficult for the bowlers’.
Gill wryly added: ‘Let’s see what wicket they give us at Lord’s. My guess is that it won’t be a flat one.’
Early reports indicate that England have requested a pitch with ‘plenty of life in it’.
If this comes to pass, this shapes up to be Bazball’s sternest test so far. Does Bazball back itself to endure in harsher batting conditions?
England’s wandering eye on the Ashes might incentivize the hosts to move away from batting belters given Australia’s four-man cartel (Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon) will likely be operating on spicier surfaces.
Time will tell.
By Mohan Harihar