Team India Playing XI Edgbaston: The second Test is starting in Edgbaston from Wednesday (July 2) between India and England. The series started with Headingley, where the team, who batted later (in the second innings), won the 7th consecutive Test.
Now the match is in Edgbaston, which is considered another “bowling-first” (first bowling) pitch. The team that batted in the second innings in the last four Tests played here has been victorious, including its biggest successful run to India in 2022 against India.
Team India has won only 1 match in its last 9 Tests. Such a bad situation was seen in India’s Test cricket about a decade ago. Then in 2014, India did not win 9 consecutive Test matches from Southampton to Gaul in 2015.
At that time, Team India was going through a change of change. Even today, there is something similar. Even then there were many occasions when India was in a strong position but could not win. In the Gaul Test in 2015, India lost a match which had almost won. Now recently something similar happened in Handingley (Leeds). India lost the match to a strong position.
𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀!
Bowlers day out with the bat in #Teamindia NETS 👍#ENGVIND pic.twitter.com/gbacrspa7r
– BCCI (@Bcci) July 1, 2025
There are many similarities in both these rounds, how they understand….
But the difference is that the 2014-15 phase is now a matter of the past and we know how India returned after that. Then India made a strong comeback after trailing 0–1 in the series against Sri Lanka and won the series 2–1. After this, India’s most successful decade in Test cricket began.
Now we are in 2024-25. We are living this time and no one knows what will happen next. But one thing is certain … India’s next story will start with Edgbaston (Birmingham). This is the same ground where India has not won a single Test match so far. India played 8 times here but did not win. The last time India was close to victory here three years ago, but the brilliant innings of Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow gave England a historic victory.
That Test match was special for England as it was the fourth consecutive win in the coaching of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. After this, there were many ups and downs in the journey of England, but his aggressive Test cricket style named Bazball has proved that when the situation is according to him, he can create tremendous pressure on any team.
How will the selection of team India be?
In Edgbaston, India cannot control things like pitch, weather or dux ball. But the team selection is in India’s hands. It will be interesting to see whether India will feed Jasprit Bumrah or not, especially when he is going to play only two out of four Tests. Also, it is also a question whether India will give a chance to Kuldeep Yadav, leaving its batting depth. Kuldeep is another world-class wicket in India’s squad.
Recall that this year in India, when India was behind 1-0 in the series against England, a big decision was taken to include Kuldeep in the team. This strengthened India’s bowling and England had to compete with India’s best bowling attack. Even after the defeat of 9 consecutive Test matches of 2014-15, India made a change in thinking and succeeded.
Now even in 2025, when India is going through the same situation, then the question is, what a strategy Team India will adopt this time. Overall, it can be important to feed Kuldeep Yadav instead of all -rounder. Ravindra Jadeja needs to bat in the upper order, while India will have to field Jaspreet Bumrah to return to the series.
Shubman Gill did not say anything clearly about the selection of Team India in the press conference before the match. He just told that Jaspreet Bumrah is available, but it is not decided whether he will play or not. Gill said that the team will take the final decision only after seeing the pitch of Edgbaston and the weather.
Gill also admitted that in the second innings of the Handingley Test, India probably had a shortage of another spinner. He indicated that in this match the team can go with another spinner. But it did not tell whether he will be Kuldeep Yadav who took the wicket or all -rounder Washington Sundar.
Potential Indian team for Edgbaston: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, Jaspreet Bumrah/Arshdeep Singh/Arshdeep Singh/Akash Deep, Mohammad Siraj, famous Krishna
On the other hand, Jofra Archer’s return to Test cricket has been postponed for at least one match for a long time, so England have announced unchanged playing XI for Edgbaston.
England’s playing at Edgbaston 11: Jack Craulie, Ben Docket, Oli Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (Captain), Jamie Smith (wicket -keeper), Chris Woakes, Bridan Cars, Josh Tung, Shoaib Bashir