3rd over: India 7-0 (Gill 4, Pujara 0) Anderson adjusts his line, bringing Gill into play, but the aftermath is just a controlled edge, a drop well short of the cordon and a few leg-spinners.
2nd over: India 5-0 (Gill 4, Pujara 0) The other opener is … Stuart Broad. I wonder if Stokes was tempted to go with Matthew Potts as (a) he’s the devil the Indians don’t know and (b) that would really excite Broad. But Broad does and he starts with a no-ball before joining the points as Cheteshwar Pujara just looks to survive and Broad, like his old friend, strays too wide. It was a bit of a surprise to see Pujara open, but a Sky caption suggests he’s actually better there than at No.3: eight innings, 98 average.
Updated at 10.42 BST
1st over: India 4-0 (Gill 4, Pujara 0) Anderson’s first ball dribbles to Sam Billings. By mid-race he has found some carry but he is a long way off and Shubman Gill, following the example of Rohit and Rahul last summer, is getting into some good solid sheets. The fifth ball is the inswinger which hits it high on the pad; so is the sixth, but it’s fuller and Gill cuts it for a seamless four.
Anthems sound, giving us the opportunity to read body language. The Indians stand proud, strong and separate from each other, hinting at independence. England locks hands, emphasizing togetherness.
Anderson waves his hand, asking for something. Now he has something: the new ball.
The first email of the day comes from Texas. “Hello!” says JP “Do you think India will be quaking in their boots at England’s steamy win over New Zealand, the reigning world Test champions?”
No. But my guess, probably no better than yours, is that they will be cautious. This is one more thing for Bumrah to think about, in addition to hundreds of others.
Team India: No Ashwin!
Jasprit Bumrah goes with a battery of four machines so there is no room for Ravichandran Ashwin. In a perfect world, the ECB would have arranged a lunchtime one-wicket contest between him and Jos Buttler. As great as these seamers are, you wonder if India have noticed that this year’s Dukes ball isn’t moving much and Jack Leach has just taken ten for. Perhaps they decided that anything Leach could do, Ravi Jadeja could do better.
1 Shubman Gill, 2 Cheteshwar Pujara, 3 Hanuma Vihari, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Rishabh Pant (wkt), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit Bumrah (capt).
England squad: as announced
Stokes likes to announce his team the day before, so no surprises here. Jimmy Anderson is back, Jamie Overton is out and Sam Billings gets a proper start instead of a last-minute knock. The big question is whether Stuart Broad will have recovered from his extremely long spell at Headingley.
1 Alex Lees, 2 Zach Crowley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Sam Billings (qt), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Jimmy Anderson.
Toss: England elect to chase
Ben Stokes wins the toss and puts India into contention. The thrill of the chase! It’s not Bazball, it’s Morgsball.
Preamble
Good morning everyone and welcome to a competition that is crying out to be an answer to a quiz question. Albeit one that requires some careful wording. Which deciding Test series took place in a different season to the series it decided? With different captains and coaches on both sides?
It’s a bit like the bacon and egg ice cream Heston Blumenthal once concocted: weird but appetizing. We have seen Joe Root and Virat Kohli walk out to the toss quite often. Time for Ben Stokes and … Jasprit Bumrah!
Rohit Sharma, India’s new Test captain, has unfortunately come down with Covid, which is bad news for connoisseurs of old-school Test openers, but intriguing news for students of sports strategy. Stokes is a captain just the way he plays, a man on a mission to make things happen. If Bumrah also turns out to be such a captain, this Test could be over by tomorrow night.
For Stokes, this is his first match of this series. For England, it is almost certainly the first time they have back-to-back Tests against different opposition. It could have been a nightmare, but having managed all those chases against New Zealand, they have the momentum.
They also have home advantage: the match is at Edgbaston, where they have beaten India in six of seven Tests (and have never lost to them). Heck, England even have an established line-up, if only because Stokes and Brendon McCullum are leaning in to show faith in their opening batsmen Alex Lees and Zach Crowley.
The Indians may cool off like they did last summer when they were beaten in the World Test Cup by New Zealand. But they lead the series (2-1) and most of the superstars in the scoreboard: the resurgent Cheteshwar Pujara, the rebel Rishabh Pant, the wily Ravi Ashwin, the tireless Mohammed Shami, the stump-smashing Bumrah and the injured Kohli, who is sure to score big in your back pocket. On this ground three years ago, he made a masterful 149 and 51 and yet found himself on the losing side due to the will to win shown by England’s all-rounders, Stokes and Sam Curran.
If today’s captains are birds, coaches are a study in contrasts. Brendon McCullum treats a Test day like a trip to a fair. Rahul David sees it more like a day in the library—a time for diligence and sobriety, with fun as an occasional bonus. It’s a clash of cultures that can make a cracker.
Play should start early during the match – 10:30am UK time, 3pm India. I’ll be back 25 minutes before with draw news. Will any captain want to bat first against Stokes’ England? We will see.
Updated at 10.11 BST
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