Two flat tracks and two different winners. That, in a nutshell, is the story of the five-match Test series thus far. The team that grabbed all 20 wickets won the high-scoring games. It was England’s bowlers to the fore in Headingley, Leeds, while India’s pacers, particularly Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, did it at Edgbaston.

India skipper Shubman Gill though is not a fan of the placid pitch on which he himself collected 430 runs. He wants more help for the bowlers and more challenges for the batters. He was also not happy with the Dukes balls getting soft after 30-odd overs leaving the bowlers struggling to contain the flow of runs, let alone getting any wickets.

“It gets very difficult for the bowlers, even more than the wicket, the ball is going soft and out of shape very quickly. I don’t know what it is — weather, wickets or whatever — but it gets very difficult for the bowlers to get wickets in these conditions. As a team, when you know it’s difficult to get wickets and runs are coming easily, a lot of things are out of your control,” Gill said at the post-match press conference here on Sunday.