- Match – England vs. India, 5th test, Indian tour to England
- Venue – Edgbaston – Birmingham
- Time & Date – 3:00 PM Indian standard Time / 1st July till 5th July
England has become the first side in Test cricket history to masterfully chase three targets of more than 250 runs in a row. Their captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have changed their game, resulting in this new aggressive playing style.
McCullum believes that Stokes is more aggressive than him. Speaking to Sky Sports, McCullum was quoted as saying:
“I’m aggressive, but I think he (Stokes) might have me covered to be honest. He came in even last night (Sunday) and we’d been set 296, with 40 overs left, and he was like ‘we’ll just knock them off tonight — extra half hour as well, it’s only seven an over!’
McCullum further added by stating,
He has been absolutely outstanding. He is clearly a leader that the guys want to follow. He is so consistent in his messaging as well, no matter how much is on the line
Even though there is a lot of talk about the English team under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, Rahul is not reading too much into England’s series triumph over New Zealand. At the press conference, David downplayed the situation. On June 29, he was cited as saying:
To be honest, we have been a pretty positive side as well
We were second in the World Championship cycle last year. This year, we find ourselves 3rd in the table just underneath the top two. So, we have been pretty successful. I mean we were pretty successful in getting 20 wickets and winning Test matches. That for me is positive cricket as well.
Last week we prepared as well as we could in Leicester. We had a really good four day game, we were able to mix and match and give a lot of our guys good opportunities against our own bowlers…..on a slightly challenging wicket, so we feel we have done the best we can in the schedule that we have had in order to prepare pour boys to the best of our ability.
Rahul has reassured the focus with a don’t worry attitude that they will adopt as their basic plan despite threats from the opposition team, but he has also parallelly commended the English team’s effort made thus far and allowed the Indian team to play some confident cricket as well. Rahul stated:
We believe that if we play well then, we have got every chance to do well against them.
Although I’m not sure exactly what the aforementioned sentence implies or refers to, one thing is for certain—the matchup between the two clubs will be crucial. It would be intriguing to see Ollie Pope field at the short leg while wearing a camera on his helmet because it will be the first time such a device has been utilised in a game.
England has recently defeated New Zealand while also winning the series against Australia in the Ashes 2022 (the Ashes 2021). Let’s wait and see what transpires when England and India play their fifth Test at Edgbaston.
Read more: India vs England 2022: Virat Kohli an inspiring figure, don’t look at his 100s as success, says India coach Rahul Dravid
