India was defeated by England in the rescheduled Test at Edgbaston by 7 wickets despite setting a steep target of 378 runs, owing to an unbeaten 269-run stand between Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*) in the final innings. This partnership enabled the home side to register their highest successful chase in the longest format.
Many experts felt that the playing XI could have been different after the defeat. Jatin Paranjape, the former national selector, argued that veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin should have been included in the starting XI.
"I don't think so. You can understand why they picked Bumrah as captain; the powers that be must have thought that Bumrah as a captain is a good choice. Sometimes it is better to err on the side of caution, and that in itself turns out to be a better decision," Paranjape said in an interview with senior sports journalist Jamie Alter.
"I can understand why they played Shardul because he had done well in the Test match at The Oval where he could have been the Man of the Match. But here you had R Ashwin in the squad. It is like keeping your Ferrari parked in the garage. The colour of the wicket was not your usual English wicket and Edgbaston is known to turn a little bit, so I thought India could have gone with two spinners. It gives you a little more control on the game if nothing is happening. Also, when you have three seamers and then you play a fourth one, someone gets under-bowled. You cannot use all four; it just doesn't come into play. But then hindsight is 20/20 vision." he added.
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After posting such a huge target, it was believed that the visitors had the upper hand but the English batters launched a counterattack from ball one. In the second innings, Bairstow and Root dismantled India's pace attack, which had dismissed the same team for 284 in the first essay, while also expertly guiding their side in chasing down the target to even the five-match series at 2-2.
This was Ben Stokes and his men’s fourth consecutive successful run chase in the longest format.
The ‘Men in Blue’ will now take on the same opposition in the limited-overs series.
