India 587 & 427-6 dec
England 407 & 153-6 (Stokes 33, Smith 32, Deep 4-58)
England require a further 455 runs to win, or four wickets to save the match
Akash Deep needed only 25 minutes on the fifth morning to puncture hopes of an unlikely England escape at Edgbaston. The right-arm seamer knocked over Ollie Pope and Harry Brook in rapid succession, and when Washington Sundar trapped Ben Stokes lbw moments before lunch, India were closing in on the victory that would square the series at 1-1.
“Of course, a draw would be regarded as a positive result for England,” assistant coach Marcus Trescothick admitted on Sunday evening. Rain duly lopped ten overs off the final day, but the hosts still began 536 runs adrift; even Bazball scarcely contemplates 6.7 an over for an entire session, let alone a day.
Deep ensured the required rate soon became academic. Pope jabbed a lifter on to his own stumps, then Brook was pinned on the knee roll by one that jagged back. The Bengal quick has four for 58 to go with two in the first innings, and told the host broadcaster he was “just aiming at the top of off and letting the surface help out”.
Stokes and debutant keeper-batter Jamie Smith briefly steadied the innings with a punchy stand of 70. Smith, unbeaten on 32, looked as unfazed as during his first-innings 184, riding a big seaming ball from Deep that whistled past leg stump. Stokes, however, fell to a classic off-spinner’s trap: Washington drifted one in, it straightened enough to beat the bat, and ball tracking confirmed it would have kissed leg stump. Stokes reviewed, more in hope than expectation, and walked off shaking his head.
Former England opener Mark Butcher, on television duty, described Deep’s spell as “a proper Test match burst—hostile yet controlled”.
With Ravindra Jadeja tying down one end and the second new ball only 18 overs away, India can smell the finish line. England still have Smith, Chris Woakes and the tail, but memories of fourth-innings chases against Pakistan and New Zealand feel a long way off.
Stokes’s side have already suffered two defeats of 400-plus under the current regime; a third now looms unless weather, or unexpected resistance, intervenes.
