2ND TEST, ENGLAND Vs INDIA, BIRMINGHAM , 2025 HIGHLIGHTS : Shubman Gill’s Super 430 Knock Helped India To Break Birmingham Jinx To Make 1-1 Test Series .
India hammered England by 336 runs in the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday to level the five-match series 1-1. With the victory, led Shubman Gill-led side made history as it became India’s first-ever Test at the venue. India had previously played 8 matches in Birmingham losing 7 and drawing one. They’ve now made it 58 years since their last victory in a match there. It was a batting paradise on offer as Gill compiled 430 runs (269 and 161) in the game. Akash Deep justified in the absence of lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah by collecting 10 wickets, which also included a career-best six-wicket haul in the last innings. Mohammed Siraj also chipped in for the team with 7 wickets in his bag. Shubman Gill’s Super 430 Knock Helped India To Break Birmingham Jinx To Make 1-1 Test Series .
TOSS-
England won the toss and chose to bowl.
PLAYING XI-
India (Playing XI):
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
England (Playing XI):
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
DAY-1
In a morning session of two halves, Jaiswal’s brightness laid the foundation on which India resurrected after Rahul fell early. The new-ball bowlers of England, especially Chris Woakes, had the ball nipping and there was a little more bounce at the start of the session but the hosts had one wicket to show for their efforts. In the midst of an investigative, penny pinching break-through, Woakes twice found himself on the end of turned down LBW shouts, and twice they went upstairs only for the batters to survive on umpire’s call.
England immediately went back to short-ball strategy, and Jaiswal went after Tongue, hooking and pulling him to three boundaries in an over to bring up his 11th Test half-century with the second of them. Nair, however, wasn’t able to live through it. With six minutes to Lunch, one jumped at Brydon Carse and he was surprised. As India’s new No. 3 Nair put his bat up to keep it out, he offered England a dolly to second slip, where Harry Brook went about making no mistake.
Gill combined with the well-set Jaiswal and they did a good job of negating the English bowlers for well over an hour in the other side of lunch. The bowlers’ discipline and spread-out field did reduce the number of boundaries for India though. The hosts doubled up with Woakes and Carse once more, and although the run rate remained meagre, the conditions were now approachably for batting. Even as Gill stayed watchful, Jaiswal didn’t let the odd wayward freebies that England offered go unpunished.
Wicketless still after an hour of toil in the mid session, Stokes reinserted himself and England back claimed the key break they had been lusting for. Entirely against the run of play, Jaiswal chased a short and wide delivery and bottom-edged behind to fall short of what would have been a richly deserved fourth hundred against England.
Rishabh Pant, typically, took on the spinner Shoaib Bashir with a six over long-on when he had the chance shortly before Tea, but otherwise had kept his head around the opposition as he and his captain took India to Tea at 182 for 3.
Gill, who had reached his fifty earlier with a straight six over Bashir s head, remained the anchor star while wickets tumbled at the other end. He had an able ally in Jadeja as the two put their heads down to save India from the mini-collapse that greeted the start of the session. Gill walked to his hundred – his second of two Tests in which he has captained full-time – with the second of two consecutive fours off part-timer Joe Root, letting out a roar so loud, you could have heard it from any stand even inside the closed ground.
DAY-2
The well-set pair then trained their guns on spinner Shoaib Bashir with Jadeja first smashing him with an inside out six over long-off that brought India’s 400 before Gill slog-swept him behind square for a maximum that took them to the 200-run mark of their partnership.
At the other end, Josh Tongue went for the short-ball tactic which had served England well the previous evening, and it brought his side the breakthrough they so needed. A round the wicket bouncer had Jadeja struggling for pace as much as bounce, and he gloved it down the leg side while fending back. He ended 11 runs shy of a well-deserved three-figure mark, his contribution in ensuring that England’s wait for a breakthrough had lasted well into the second half of the morning session with India collaring 109 runs at 4.36.
Gill then took India past 500 immediately after the hourly drinks break – the sixth time a visiting side had been over 500 at Edgbaston and the first since South Africa in 2003 – with two boundaries off Mark Wood before the hundred partnership with Washington was raised. Bashir came back into the attack and so did Gill’s attacking methods as he danced down the track to loft him straight down the ground for maximum and then mad part-timer Brook leave the attack with an 11-run over where he struck two more boundaries. With the second of those fours, Gill became the sixth Indian batter ever to make a 250 in Tests.
Knowing that wicket was needed to break the partnership, Stokes turned to Root just before Tea was due and the former captain didn’t disappoint. A crucial hand with 42, Washington’s middle stump was pinned back by the part-time spinner.
Gill made his way to Tea on 265 not out to be well-placed to be the third Indian to score a triple but he fell in tame fashion early after the break to end his captain’s knock. And for England and, specifically, for Tongue, it was the short ball again that struck, Gill pulling it straight to square-leg to return with 269 – country’s seventh best individual effort in Tests and the highest by an Indian skipper ever.
DIDN’T QUITE WEAR THE BIG BOOTS With big boots to fill of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash had a forgettable first over first up with two boundaries and a no-ball to leak 12. However, he rectified that by troubling the bastmen couplet holing out next over. Gill’s puthamavu moments got better when he pulled off a stunner to his left at third slip and sent packing the PoTM of England’s Headingley win, Ben Duckett, for 0, and Jackson Bird replied with the leading edge from Ollie Pope that flew to KL Rahul at second slip, and the leading edge should have told Pope he’d flicked first ball.
The host barely managed to regroup and Mohd. Siraj lent another blow. Zak Crawley poked at a delivery shaping away from him and edged it to first slip to be out for 19.
When there were 12.5 overs to be bowled on the day England were more on the back foot than they have been at any point the match, but Root was joined by Brook and they managed to get through to stumps without too much trouble. That said, the hosts still have some work to do with that remaining 310 to come in handy if they were to make India bat again.
DAY-3
An inauspicious beginning for the hosts saw them reeling under the blow 10 balls into the day as Siraj bagged two wickets with two balls in an over to further tighten the screw. Root was the first to go, attempting to flick a leg-side delivery and edging to the left of Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. Ben Stokes was then welcomed with a nasty short ball first up that reared on him uncomfortably and kissed the handle of his bat on its way through to the ‘keeper.
England had sunk to 84/5, and appeared to be in dire straits when Smith injected pace into their scoring. And they were helped by a thin slip cordon that let them score freely. The hat-trick delivery was hit straight down the ground as the English wicketkeeper-batsman counterpunched his way out of a brutal examination that had been going on for two and more sessions.And with Smith and Brook rewriting the record books, England were able to stave off the follow on, India remained wicketless in the afternoon which will only add to their annoyance. Smith and Brook did not bat at the same frenetic pace as in the morning but good enough to keep India at bay.
Brook brought up his ninth Test hundred — in just 27 Tests – by cutting through point off Prasidh soon after the Lunch interval before Smith was fortunately given a reprieve on 121 when Rishabh Pant dropped a difficult chance going to his right. Undeterred, the pair took the score past 200 the next delivery, before becoming the first England pairing to do so against India for a sixth wicket or lower. Other than that drop, there wasn’t much given away by either of the set batsmen.
India took the new ball the moment it was an option for them and it provided the change of fortunes the visitors were desperate for. But it was Akash again who provided the breakthrough. Shortly after the sixth-wicket pair had brought up the 300, the seamer got one to jag back in sharply from outside off and sneak through the inside-edge as it clattered into Brook’s off-stump.
Tongue desperately reviewed the lbw decision, but the ball tracking merely vindicated Siraj. Having picked his fourth in the form of Mohammad, who was caught in the slip cordon, Siraj went one better with his sixth wicket, dismissing Shoaib Bashir. The last three of England’s top six were dismissed without scoring and the six players who went for ducks represented over half of England’s first- innings total as the Smith-Brook partnership of 342 of the team’s 407.
The Indian openers had struck 11 boundaries between themselves in their 51-run partnership that had just compelled England to make an early bowling change. And Tongue did as required when he pinned the left-hander lbw in front but there was drama when England questioned Jaiswal’s tardy DRS referral. By the home team’s reaction was not to be questioning the decision it was for at no-review, on-field call-assessment, the protocols with DRS were following the ball which told the decision not to be overturned. Jaiswal was sent packing at the stroke of stumps after a breezy 22-ball 28 that included half a dozen hit to the fence.
DAY-4
Previously, on a cloudy morning, Brydon Carse had been England’s most dangerous bowler, causing problems with his steep bounce and movement. He found KL Rahul’s edge early on, but the ball flew wide of slip, and also had Karun Nair on the helmet with one that seamed in.Carse would eventually break the second-wicket stand at 45, inducing a drive from Nair and having him caught behind. But the Indian batters did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking progressing to 100 within the first hour. An England review was burnt on an LBW decision when Shubman Gill had an obivous inside edge, in the meantime. Rahul completed a half-century before being bowled by a jaffa from Josh Tongue.
Pant was into the act immediately after Lunch, late cutting Bashir for four. Gill then decided to take on Tongue, smashing him for a six over fine-leg and two fours as he surpassed Virat Kohli’s aggregate of 449 as India’s debut Test captain. Gill ramped Tongue for six over fine leg and then flat-batted him through midwicket for four to go to a 57-ball fifty. Pant went to fifty from 48 balls, a single off Tongue took him there, then leapt over 400 with a six over long-on. The partnership had reached triple figures when Pant swept Bashir for four, but it was broken a few balls later, when, after losing the grip of his bat – the second such instance of the innings – the left-hander holed out to long-off off Bashir.
Gill then smashed four and six in the same over to move to the 80s, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar’s record (344 against West Indies in 1971) for the highest total by an Indian in a Test. At the other end, Ravindra Jadeja adopted a cautious approach as the lead went past 450 in the second hour of the session. Gill had reached the 90s with well-run singles and twos before sweeping Joe Root for four. He took a dangerous two before Jadeja finally found a gap through the off side and it went for a boundary. India got to 300 and a short while later Gill got to his second hundred of the match – the third Indian captain after Gavaskar and Kohli to score two hundreds in a Test – as India collected 127 runs in the session off 30 overs .
However, the fifth-wicket alliance scored another 50 runs as Jadeja struck Root for a four, with Gill completing his 150 with a six in the same over. Gill then smote his eighth six of the innings – a powerful pull off Bashir – before hitting-out to the same bowler. India did not declare with their captain’s wicket, continuing to bat with the wicket of Nitish Reddy that came after Root’s scalp. Washington Sundar then smacked a six and a four to push the lead past 600. India’s wait for the declaration carried on and they then became only the sixth team to amass a 1000-plus aggregate in a Test before they declared.
After running England ragged on the field for most of the first innings — for almost seven sessions and as many days — India bit early in the fourth innings to leave the hosts hanging. Zak Crawley fell for nought when the 20-year-old Siraj had him caught at point driving away from his body. India wasted a review for a caught behind against Ben Duckett and the southpaw transacted in boundaries within deals to set England in motion. But Duckett lasted just a couple of overs before being bowled when he inside-edged on to the stumps after Akash Deep had replaced the ineffective Das. Ollie Pope brought up two fours off Akash Deep, but did not quite have control of the first of them as he got a leading edge just wide off gully.
India, however, still had a poverty of luck with their reviews and lost another when Prasidh Krishna pinned Pope on the pad, replays showing it was going down. Pope got an early reprieve when an edge off Prasidh did not carry to Pant but Akash Deep struck a big blow in the next over, nailing Root with one that angled in before cutting away and he then had Pope virtually chopping on to a Prasidh delivery while Harry Brook survived when he chipped one to short midwicket. Both were unbeaten at Stumps with England set for a mountain to climb on the final day, requiring a further 536 runs with seven wickets remaining.
DAY-5
Following a rain delay of 100 minutes that made the start of play impossible, Prasidh Krishna and Akash began operations, the latter coming in from the end where he had picked up two wickets on day four. But Akash struck early from this end as well, drawing a tentative forward push from Ollie Pope, who played on stumps. Prasidh was holding at the other end, unlike in the first innings, and Akash kept asking questions on off-stump and a shade outside. But then up came one that j jagged in sharply to Harry Brook and pinned him in front. Akash and Prasidh held it till the drinks break but Ben Stokes and Smith countered the pacers and smashed the hits.
The first bowling change was brought on by Mohammed Siraj, and Ravindra Jadeja blocked one end and troubled Stokes by throwing into the rough outside the off. The England captain was close to spooning one to leg-slip off Siraj, but escaped and was finally able to get some runs off him as the stand passed fifty. Washington was introduced with about five minutes remaining to be bowled for the break and operated in tandem with Jadeja. The offspinner believed he had Stokes caught down the leg side but Shubman Gill didn’t want the review. But then Washington hit soon after, dismissing Stokes LBW on the stroke of Lunch and a review not helping the left-hander.
Washington struck the outside edge of Chris Woakes’s bat early in the second session but KL Rahul, a touch deep at slip, saw the ball land just in front of his palms. Jadeja bowled from the other end and he bowled very quickly, adding to the pressure. Smith, who had come forward to play those pitched outside leg from Jadeja, raised his half-century. But India kept the heat and brought Akash back into the attack and the pacer made some chances but luck wasn’t on their side. Prasidh came at the other end and he dismissed the seventh wicket stand with a short delivery that was a top-edge by Woakes. Smith had another onfield lbw decision overturned with the DRS in the same over.
Smith then accepted the short balls from Akash to give a wrap over the cover boundary a couple of times but the pacer stuck to the back of length balls, this time going a bit wider and had the wicket-keeper batter caught in the deep to pick his first fifer and walked off the field shortly after. Brydon Carse attempted to slug it out but when Josh Tongue fell to Jadeja, brilliantly caught by Siraj running back from short midwicket, England were nine down. Akash came back and was inches away from his sixth, but Siraj dropped a high catch off Carse. Shoaib Bashir, in the same over, steered a six to long-off and then overturned a caught behind decision on DRS as he attempted to paddle Jadeja. Akash claimed his 10th of the match when Gill clutched a mis-timed shot from Carse.
Brief scores:
India 587 (Shubman Gill 269, Ravindra Jadeja 89, Yashasvi Jaiswal 87; Shoaib Bashir 3-167) & 427/6 decl. (Shubman Gill 161, Ravindra Jadeja 69\*, Rishabh Pant 65; Josh Tongue 2-93) beat England 407 (Jamie Smith 184\*, Harry Brook 158; Mohammed Siraj 6-70, Akash Deep 4-88) & 271 (Jamie Smith 88, Brydon Carse 38; Akash Deep 6-99) by 336 runs.