England three down after being set world-record 608 as India chase series-levelling victory on final day at Edgbaston | Cricket News

England plummeted to 72-3 after being set a world-record target of 608 to win the second Test at Edgbaston as India’s new-ball bowlers took the tourists nearer to a series-levelling victory.

Zak Crawley (0) was caught at backward point driving Mohammed Siraj to chalk up England’s seventh duck of the match before Ben Duckett (25 off 15) inside-edged an Askash Deep in-ducker onto his stumps after a breezy start that featured five fours.

Deep – playing in place of the rested pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah – then bowled Joe Root (6) with a peach from wide of the crease as England were left reeling on the fourth evening in Birmingham.

One solace, perhaps, is that India have shredded two reviews ahead of a final day which will begin with Ollie Pope (24no) and Harry Brook (15no) – the latter having shared a stand of 303 with Jamie Smith in the first innings from 84-5 – at the crease.

England have only had one draw in 37 Tests in the Bazball era – a rain-enforced Ashes stalemate against Australia at Emirates Old Trafford in 2023 – with Ben Stokes’ men targeting victories at all costs in that time and pulling off a number of remarkable chases.

One of those came in the first Test of this series as the hosts reached 371 in Leeds and another occurred at Edgbaston against India in 2022 when tons from Root and the now-jettisoned Jonny Bairstow cinched an England-high 378 only three down.

Picking off this mammoth target – 190 more than the record Test chase of 418 West Indies achieved versus Australia in Antigua in 2003 and 72 more than the highest in all first-class cricket – is now surely even beyond Stokes’ trailblazers.

A draw is not totally of the equation, though, on a pitch still good for batting but the exits of Crawley and Duckett – who shared an opening stand of 188 in that Headingley heist last month – and latterly Root were a hammer blow as India’s new-ball quicks, once again, enjoyed more joy than their English counterparts.

Gill makes Test history as India pile on the runs

The featherbed of a surface offered little to the England attack, aside from a few balls shooting through low, as India amassed 427-6 declared in their second innings, during which skipper Shubman Gill (161 from 162) became the first player in history to score 200 and 150 in the same Test in a continuation of his scorching form.

It may be that India – perhaps spooked by England’s history of recent successful daring chases – are left to rue batting on too long on the fourth day and/or strangely plodding along in the afternoon once another madcap innings from Rishabh Pant (65 off 58) ended..

Pant plundered 110 from 103 balls in partnership with Gill – whose ton backed up a first-innings 269 and 147 at Headingley, with the skipper’s 430 runs all told at Edgbaston the second highest in a Test, bettered by only Graham Gooch’s 456 against India in 1990.

Pant provided sixes, fours and chaos after coming in at No 5, once the previous night’s lbw exit of Yashasvi Jaiswal (8), out to Josh Tongue (2-93), had been followed by Brydon Carse nicking off Karun Nair (26) and Tongue uprooting KL Rahul’s (55) middle stump.

The left-hander nailed 11 boundaries in total (eight fours, three sixes) – he launched Tongue over long-off for a maximum the fourth delivery he faced – and twice lost control of his bat, including during his dismissal to Shoaib Bashir (2-119) as his blade hurtled towards Carse at midwicket and the ball was pouched by Duckett at mid-off.

Yet, the runs were then scored at a pedestrian rate up until tea – a situation described as “baffling” by Sky Sports’ Mark Butcher – only for a dramatic gear change after the interval to see 123 runs looted in 15 overs before the declaration finally came.

Occurrences in that dizzying span of sixes and fours included Gill reaching 150 from 156 balls before chipping back to Bashir, Jadeja (69no) passing fifty for the second time in the Test, and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1) lofting Root to long-off as he made just two runs in the contest after being picked as a batting all-rounder.

The England fans who had chanted “boring, boring India” while waiting for the declaration soon belted out “stand up if you still believe”.

That belief was dented by the departures of Crawley, Duckett and Root but it has not been extinguished entirely, although it will require a monumental effort for Stokes’ side to head to Lord’s for the third Test from Thursday with their 1-0 lead still intact.

Hussain: Another very good day for India

Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain:

“If you look at the nine days so far in this series, India have definitely won more sessions than England and yet they find themselves 1-0 down.

“It has been another very good day for them. They needed this evening, and they need tomorrow, too.

“They have played so much good cricket over these two Test matches, they feel as though they should go to Lord’s at 1-1.”

Broad: Gill has been breath-taking

Sky Sports Cricket’s Stuart Broad:

“Gill is outrageous.

“As a bowler, I’d be looking for technical things so I could expose him, but he’s not shown any obvious signs of dismissal and he’s played stylishly.

“He’s played with huge responsibility, under big pressure. It’s breath-taking, to be honest. He deserves all the applause will get.”

Watch day four of the second Test between England and India live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.15am Sunday (11am first ball) or stream without a contract.

England vs India – results and schedule

All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all on Sky Sports

First Test (Headingley) – England won by five wicketsSecond Test (Edgbaston): July 2-6Third Test (Lord’s): July 10-14Fourth Test (Emirates Old Trafford): July 23-27Fifth Test (The Kia Oval): July 31-August 4