The Indian test team will be looking to conquer their final frontier in England, as the Rohit Sharma-led side gear up for the rescheduled fifth test match from last year’s tour that will be played at Edgebaston starting this Friday. In this article, we will be previewing the Edgebaston Stadium by analyzing the venue’s test match records, weather, and pitch report of Birmingham Cricket Stadium.
Team forms
India will be playing their first international red-ball match in quite some time; having last played a test match at home against Sri Lanka earlier this March. But the bigger concern for them will be the availability cloud that’s surrounding captain Rohit Sharma’s participation in the game. A few days back, Rohit tested positive for COVID-19 and was subsequently moved under isolation.
While there are players who could replace him at the top of the order in the forms of Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, and KS Bharat; the burden of captaincy will, in all likelihood, fall on the shoulders of some young player like Rishabh Pant or Jasprit Bumrah- should Rohit not recover in time. It would be interesting to see how the Indian management reacts to this conundrum.
Batting-wise, almost every Indian batter showed some semblance of form, which should serve them well ahead of the all important game. On the bowling front, India will have some tough decisions to make over finalizing the makeup of their playing XI. But as long as everyone stays match-fit- which seems to be the case right now- the tourists will be able to field a competent albeit slightly inexperienced playing XI.
Meanwhile, hosts England will be riding on a confidence high on the back of the 3-0 series whitewash they recently inflicted over the incumbent World Test Champions New Zealand. Under Brendon McCullum’s coaching and Ben Stokes’ captaincy, the team seems to have found a set template of aggressive cricket to base their entire game plan around, which makes them a very dangerous opponent.
Some of the top English performers from the NZ test series were Joe Root (obviously), Jonny Bairstow, who seems to be finally at par playing an attacking brand of cricket; and fast-bowler Matty Potts, who impressed everyone with his fiery pace. That said, the hosts will be mulling over the fitness of their first-choice glovesman Ben Foakes, who also contracted COVID. Sam Billings has been added as a replacement into the team, but it would be interesting to see if he makes it into the playing XI.
Birmingham Cricket Stadium Test Records
| Total matches | 53 |
| Matches won batting first | 18 |
| Matches won bowling first | 20 |
| Average 1st Inns scores | 307 |
| Average 2nd Inns scores | 320 |
| Average 3rd Inns scores | 244 |
| Average 4th Inns scores | 152 |
| Highest total recorded | 710/7 (188.1 Ov) by ENG vs IND |
| Lowest total recorded | 30/10 (12.3 Ov) by RSA vs ENG |
Edgbaston Birmingham Pitch Report
The surface at Edgebaston tends to be a high-scoring one, with some assistance for the bowlers who look to extract swing out of the venue. James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who are both in the England team for this game, are the highest and second-highest wicket-takers on this venue with 45 and 40 scalps against their names respectively.
Birmingham Weather during ENG vs IND Test
There is prediction for rain on Friday and Saturday, which indicates that fans should be in for a rain-marred affair.