Edgbaston Weather Drama: Can India Capitalize on Final Day Against Ben Stokes’ England?

IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill-led India are in full control of the Edgbaston Test. The visitors are looking like hot favourites to win the second Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. Shubman Gill took a lot of learnings from the Headingley Test, a match that India should’ve won after dominating most of the sessions. The Edgbaston Test saw India dominate on all four days, barring one session which saw Harry Brook and Jamie Smith pile up a mammoth partnership of 303 runs.

Conditions in England play a big part as far as Test matches in the country are concerned. When the sun comes out, the conditions become favourable for batting. As soon as it turns cloudy, bowlers feed on the conditions and create troubles for the batters. This is the beauty of Test cricket being played in England. Shubman Gill’s India will be all smiles today, even before heading into the final day of the Edgbaston Test, not because they have sent three English batters back to the hut, but also because the weather will well and truly be in India’s favour.

As per AccuWeather, there were few short bursts of rain till 10 AM which will see the pitch being under cover and it will result in the surface having enough moisture for the bowlers to exploit. The sun partially comes out at 11 AM as per the forecast, but the first hour of the play will be crucial to India and they will look to grab a couple more wickets and force England to sink deeper.

There were serious questions about the quality of the Indian bowling after the stakeholders of the Test team decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah. Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj sniffed opportunity in adversity, rose up to the occasion and as of now they have left the English batters bamboozled and begging for answers.

India have trapped England in their own game plan where they back their chasing capabilities. England need 608 runs to win the Edgbaston Test on the final day, a mammoth score that looks humanly impossible at the moment, considering the fact that the hosts have lost three wickets.