Considering India have not won a Test here at Edgbaston in eight previous attempts, the Gautam Gambhir-coached team face their biggest challenge on that count, with or without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, when the second Test commences here on Wednesday.

Ground reality 

India have played eight Tests here, losing seven and drawing one (see box). The last time India played here in 2022 — in the rescheduled fifth Test from the 2021 series — England chased down 378 in just 76.4 overs with seven wickets to spare, achieving their highest chase in Test. That defeat meant England managed to draw the series after India had returned home leading 2-1 at the end of the fourth Test due to the spread of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, Bumrah was the stand-in skipper in the fifth Test in place of Rohit Sharma, who was unfit.

However, though India do not have happy memories of Edgbaston, in the wake of their performance in the first game at Headingley, looking only at the positives, one would feel that the visitors can turn things around. Among the biggest positives was India’s top-order batting. However, the performance of the lower-order batsmen majorly let the team down. Of course, the catching too must improve, and they also need to get their bowling combination right.