India suffered a seven wicket thrashing at the hands of England despite dominating the first three days of the rescheduled fifth and final Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
Joe Root (142) and Jonny Bairstow (114) smashed unbeaten centuries as England chased down a stiff 378 for victory with relative ease on the final day.
India will be stunned as to how they let a sizeable first innings lead of 132 runs go waste. They have themselves to blame as their casual batting in the second innings allowed England to inch their way back into the contest.
India lost their last six wickets for 56 runs to be bowled out for 245 in their second innings on a good batting track.
Captain Jasprit Bumrah was the only lone bright spot for India in an otherwise disappointing showing with the ball in the second innings as England smashed runs at nearly five per over.
The batting was a big letdown for the Indians with Virat Kohli, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer failing in both innings, while Shardul Thakur's selection over Ravichandran Ashwin turned out to be a big mistake.
A look at how India's players fared in the Birmingham Test:
Shubman Gill (1/10)
Gill's technique or the lack of it as the opener was exposed in Birmingham. Twice he was dismissed caught in the slips off James Anderson, chasing deliveries away from his body.
Gill scored 17 and four in the two innings.
Cheteshwar Pujara (7/10)
Pujara, drafted as the opener in Rohit Sharma's place, found the going tough in difficult conditions in the first innings. He played his role to perfection in the second though with a gutsy 66 to steady India after a few early wickets, putting on 78 runs for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant.
Hanuma Vihari (1/10)
Pujara's replacement at No 3 struggled against the moving ball.
In the first innings, Vihari threw away a good start as he was trapped leg before wicket for 20 after he missed an incoming delivery from Matthew Potts.
In the second innings, he played a loose shot, looking to drive a wide delivery from Stuart Broad to be caught in the slips for 11.
Virat Kohli (1/10)
There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for Kohli at the moment.
Clearly short of confidence, he was bowled for 11 off an inside edge in the first innings after he made a late decision to leave the ball from Potts.
In the second innings, he got a virtually unplayable delivery from Ben Stokes, which bounced sharply off length to nick the gloves.
Wicket-keeper Sam Billings had failed to pouch the catch, but the rebound went straight to Joe Root at first slip.
Rishabh Pant (9/10)
Pant continues to make an impact with the bat in Test cricket.
Once again with India in dire straits, Pant smashed his way to a brilliant counter-attacking knock of 146 from 111 balls. His 222-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja was instrumental in taking India to a healthy 416 in their first innings despite the top order's failures.
He hit another half-century (57) in the second innings, but his dismissal saw India lose their way as the last five wickets fell for 47 runs.
Pant also took four catches with the gloves.
Shreyas Iyer (1/10)
Iyer's weakness against the short ball was thoroughly exposed by England courtesy their coach Brendon McCullum, who was the Indian right-hander's coach at the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022.
Iyer looked in all sorts of trouble against the bouncers. In the first innings, he was caught down the leg side trying to glance Anderson fine off his hips.
In the second, he tried to show intent and take on the short pitched deliveries but ended up offering a simple catch to Anderson off Potts.
Ravindra Jadeja (7/10)
Jadeja was preferred ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin, but his lacklustre bowling hurt India especially in the second innings.
The all-rounder played a crucial knock of 104 in the first innings to rescue India in Pant's company. However, his performance with the ball was disappointing.
In the second innings, with England set 378 for victory, Jadeja was content to bowl defensively from over the wicket in the rough and just hold one end up, instead of trying to pick up wickets by operating from round the stumps.
Jasprit Bumrah (8/10)
Bumrah seemed to relish the responsibility of captaincy.
With the ball, Bumrah led from the front with five wickets in the match, but it was his record-breaking effort with the bat which stunned spectators at the ground and watching on television.
Bumrah etched a batting world record to his name as he hit Stuart Broad for 29 runs with the England pacer conceding a world record 35 runs in an over.
Bumrah's stunning assault (31 not out from 16 balls) took India past the 400 run mark in the first innings.
Mohammed Shami (5/10)
Shami bowled his heart out at Edgbaston. His figures may show just two wickets in the match, but he was a genuine threat whenever he came into bowl in the first innings.
Shami also had a couple of catches dropped off his bowling. However, he failed in the second innings, conceding 64 runs in 15 overs.
Mohammed Siraj (5/10)
Siraj cleaned up England's lower order in the first innings with figures of 4/66, which helped India take a sizable 132 run lead.
However, he was taken apart by Bairstow and Root in England's second innings, smashed for 98 runs in 15 overs.
Shardul Thakur (1/10)
A match Thakur would like to forget in a hurry.
Included instead of Ravichandran Ashwin as the seam bowling all-rounder, Thakur struggled with both bat and ball.
He managed just five runs in the two innings and took just one wicket in the match, while being smashed 113 runs in a total of 18 overs bowled. He also dropped a catch.
