Hyderabad: Until day 4 when Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant were at the crease, India looked assured of setting England a massive score and heading towards a comfortable win after the hosts' first innings debacle. The match that was largely dominated by India, however, witnessed a sharp turn after a century stand by the English openers with their position being further cemented by in-form Jonny Bairstow and modern-day great Joe Root.
Myriad of reasons led to India being routed at the hands of England by seven wickets in the Edgbaston Test resulting in the visitors sharing the honours with England that could have been theirs. ETV Bharat takes your through the course of the match and analyse where India fell short and the turnaround occurred.
1) England openers' century stand
A century stand between openers is always the first brick in the wall while chasing a huge target. England's first wicket fell at 107. Alex Lees (56) and Zak Crawley (46) set things up for a record chase by England. The freewheeling batting and runs coming at their own volition not only accelerates the scorecard but can demoralise bowlers of the opposition and gives the chasing team a belief to go out and express themselves irrespective of what is being reflected in the scorecard.
Read: 'A Jonny Good Show': England ground India as Bairstow, Root score tons in landmark win
2) Partnership between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow
The biggest reason for England's win. England overhauled the 378-run target in the morning session of the fifth and final day with Root and Bairstow remaining unbeaten on 142 and 114 respectively, sharing a partnership of 269 runs from just 316 balls. Root's innings was studded with 19 fours and a six while Baistow, after his first-innings hundred (106 off 140 balls), kept the scoreboard flowing again with 15 boundaries and a maximum.
Bairstow has been in the form of his life is what commentators and knowers of the game kept saying throughout the match while Root produced yet another class innings to keep up with the reputation he has built over the past two years. England seems to be on the right trajectory after the change of skipper and coach in Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
3) India's Poor fielding
Poor fielding too had a part to play in India's debacle. Hanuma Vihari dropped an easy catch of Jonny Bairstow. The script could have been different. Vihari let off an easy chance standing at the second slip off Mohammed Siraj. Siraj's frustration was visible and in hindsight, Vihari dropped the match.
Expectedly, Bairstow's dropped catch proved decisive as the in-form batter went on to make a century. However, it wasn't only the catch that reflected India's poor standards of fielding. Conceding easy singles and letting the batsman change crease regularly shifted the momentum as it reduced Indian bowlers' chances of settling down. Furthermore, it kept the scoreboard moving which led England to go for the kill against India instead of settling for a draw.
Read: Badminton Asia Technical Committee apologises to Sindhu for 'human error'
4) Poor show by Indian batters in the second innings
After the first innings show where India scored 416 and continued with the same approach in the second with Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant on the crease, India drifted to a batting debacle with the fall of Pujara at 153 and Pant at 198. The innings thereafter succumbed to a lowly 245 with the batters -- Shreyas Iyer (19), Ravindra Jadeja (23) and Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj falling at 4, 13, 7, 2. Most of them fell victim to short ball tactic applied by England. With the field setting, it was evident that England was going for the short ball trap and the ill-equipped lower order Indian players committing to shots meant they fell right into it.
This was a curical phase of cricket where the batters could have further firmed India's position by setting a target in excess of 400. Furthermore, Virat Kohli's form, Gill's failure in both the innings, Shreya's vulnerability to short balls and Hanuma Vihari's inability to stretch his innings to a big score added to India's woes.
5) Jasprit Bumrah's captaincy
It would be unfair to come to any conclusion so soon as Burmah did what was required in major part of the Test match in terms of captaincy. But a scattered field that allowed England batters to bat freely and going for Shardul instead of R Ashwin, who with his experimental bowling and a bulk of experience, could have proved instrumental, could be one of the reasons where India missed the bus.
