England trounce India by 7 wickets in 5th Test at Edgbaston 

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India and England shared the trophy after their five-match series ended in a 2-2 draw

A revived and rejuvenated England cricket team trampled the former world No 1 Test team and finalists of the last ICC World Test Championship (WTC), India by a huge margin of 7 wickets on the fifth and final day of their last Test at Edgbaston to keep the coveted Pataudi Trophy in their custody, on Tuesday. 

England followed the principle of batting aggressively right from the first ball — now being coined ‘Bazball’ as a tribute to their Kiwi coach Brendon McCullum — to stun India in the fifth and final Test at Edgbaston to force a 2-2 draw in the five-match series, which was left incomplete in mid 2021 owing to the outbreak of coronavirus cases in the visiting team’s camp. 

The Indian side, playing without their new leadership pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, did its best to set a target of 378 — thanks to more than 200 runs coming off the bat of Rishabh Pant, a fine century by Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings and a fighting half-century by Cheteshwar Pujara in the second essay. 

India had dominated the proceedings for the majority of the contest but England came back roaring through their batsmen in the second innings, with the opening pair of Alex Lees and Zak Crawley adding more than 100 runs in the chase of 378 to put them well on track for a historic victory.

England had never ever scored these many runs to win a Test match but Tuesday was a historic day in the annals of English cricket with their Yorkshire batsmen Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow bringing up their respective centuries and adding 269 runs unbeaten for the fourth wicket to power them to a magnificent win — one that will be remembered for a very long time to come.

The former England captain Joe Root remind unbeaten on 142 from 173 balls with 19 boundaries and a six whereas the wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow reached 114 not out from 145 balls with 15 fours and a six — after scoring a brilliant century in the first innings for his side.

While there was not a lot that India did wrong in terms of performances, their batsmen, particularly Virat Kohli, will be under scrutiny after twin failures from the bat of the former captain. 

The Indian side was also targeted by short bowling from the English bowlers, and batting coach Vikram Rathour as well as head coach Rahul Dravid will have their task cut out to help their batsmen find a way around the problem and not get stuck with it — something that they have so far.

The two teams will now prepare for white-ball assignments with a three-match T20I series starting on Thursday at Southampton, ahead of which India’s regular captain Rohit Sharma has been tested negative for coronavirus. India and England will also play a three-match ODI series. 

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