7 hours ago
12
The demise of England’s top order was a classic case of tired minds leading to poor shots.
India were ruthless with the way they batted, particularly their captain Shubman Gill, responding to the two collapses in the first Test at Headingley by adding depth to their order and keeping their opponents out there for as long as they could in posting 587.
What happened at the start of England’s reply was a classic case of your brain getting a bit frazzled after being kept on your feet so long.
The three quickfire wickets with the new ball included Ollie Pope and he has to be careful not to repeat recent history.
Once again, England’s vice-captain has started a series well with a score - making a hundred in Leeds - but he has to be careful things don’t fall away again as they did in the series in India early last year.
On this occasion against Akash Deep, he closed the bat face, trying to work his first delivery to the leg-side, a dangerous ploy when faced with the new ball - and the catch was pouched in the slips.
England lost three early top-order wickets and ended day two on 77-3, 510 runs behind India
Their demise was a classic case of tired minds leading to poor shots after a long fielding stint
India, and Shubman Gill in particular, were ruthless as they posted a mammoth score of 587
They were smart at Leeds with the way they played but Zak Crawley was also guilty of a bad shot. Poking outside the off stump like that was fraught with danger.
Make no mistake, though, it’s hard for the top three in particular if your team has been bowling for 151 overs.
Why do you think Joe Root likes going in at number four? Why do you think Gill has dropped down to four now he is captain? A slight loss of concentration, and you're gone.
So far, it’s been classic Test match cricket on an incredibly flat pitch, although England clearly expected more movement, because aside from an hour on Thursday, during Chris Woakes's first spell, the ball did nothing.
The statistics told you it swung less, it seamed less, bounced less, and the surface was slower than its Headingley equivalent.
It shows that England read the conditions slightly wrong in bowling first, yet you have to accept that chasing here at Edgbaston has been the way to go - remember they knocked off 378 just three wickets down when India were last here three years ago.
So we won't be able to judge the toss decision by Ben Stokes authoritatively until the end of the game.
India want to extract some spin deeper into the contest and I think the game needs the ball to spin too, because Test match pitches either need to give the bowlers something to work with at the start of an innings or deteriorate later on.
It is not acceptable to play on a road for five days, and India will want to capitalise on their good start in the absence of their attack spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
England's top order were smart at Leeds with the way they played but they were loose here
But it is still not the time to judge Ben Stokes' decision to bowl first until the end of the game
If you think about it, India have had seven pretty good days of Test match cricket this series, yet they’re 1-0 down, and so these next three days are pretty important to them.
If the pitch defeats them here, they'll find it incredible that they go to Lords behind in the series.
As for England’s bowlers? Josh Tongue can't just be someone that comes on and knocks over the tail. Very few cricketers have enjoyed successful careers specialising in that.
At least he kept his speed up around 90 mile per hour, but Brydon Carse struggled on day two and his drop in pace was indicative of the fact that he’s carrying a foot injury again.
There will be big changes in the England attack going to Lord’s next week, with only three days between games, and I can see Carse and Tongue, and maybe even Chris Woakes dropping out.
You could find a completely new attack takes the field for Stokes’ side, but the question now is whether they retain the lead they opened up in Leeds.
