After Edgbaston, Old Trafford challenge awaits Shubman Gill and Co
MANCHESTER: After a disappointing loss at Leeds in the first Test, history was against India when they headed to Edgbaston for the next match. They had never won a Test at the venue and were without their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for the match to manage his workload.
Indifferent to the past middling shows, Shubman Gill and Co, however, rewrote the history as they registered a comprehensive win by a record margin of 336 runs to level the five-match series in Birmingham. A 22-run loss at the Lord's Cricket Ground meant the onus will be once again on the visitors to defy history and score their maiden win at the Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester when they take the field for the fourth match beginning on July 23.
For England, Old Trafford is a formidable venue as they have won 33 and lost only 15 matches here, drawing the remaining 36 so far. Since 2020, they have not lost a single contest at the place winning five and drawing a solitary game. Since the turn of the century, the hosts have lost only two out of 20 matches and drawn four.
Against India, they have played nine matches here so far with the last one coming in 2014 which they won by an innings and 54 runs. Incidentally, current head coach Gautam Gambhir was part of the Indian team that lost heavily then. Overall, they have won four and drawn five.
Besides, their most dependable batter Joe Root, who has scored 253 runs so far in the series with a century at Lord's, has an outstanding record at the venue. He has played 11 matches here scoring 978 runs at an average of 65.20, which is quite high in comparison to his career average of 50.80. He has scored a century and seven fifties at Old Trafford. Given his close affinity with the venue, it will be a big task for India bowlers to stop him from piling on the runs and running away with the game.
Gill had downplayed the talks regarding India's no-win record ahead of the second Test in Edgbaston. He, in fact, led by example creating a bucketful of records to help his team register a series-levelling victory. The India captain later termed the win as one of his happiest memories. "This is something that I would cherish for the rest of my life; probably whenever I would retire, I think this would be one of my happiest memories," Gill had said in a video shared by Indian cricket board (BCCI).
The twin failures at Lord's for Gill meant his team fell short by a small margin in the third Test conceding ground to the opponents. Despite the ordinary show with the willow where he could score only 16 and 6 in the two innings, the 25-year-old from Punjab remains the leading scorer of the series with 607 runs to his credit. He needs to step up once again as he did in the second Test to make sure England do not run away with a win and series in their so-called stronghold Old Trafford.