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India vs England: 10 interesting facts to know about rescheduled Edgbaston Test
India vs England 5th Test: Ahead of the series decider, we take a look at 10 very interesting things to know about this match at Edgbaston.
India and England are preparing to face off in the rescheduled fifth Test match of their series from last year. The match what was originally to be held at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester got postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak, and is now set to begin at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham instead. Almost a year later, both teams are looking very different from the last time India and England did battle. Virat Kohli and Joe Root remain in the teams, but have been replaced as captains by Rohit Sharma and Ben Stokes. The coaches different too, with Rahul Dravid stepping into Ravi Shastri's shoes, and Brendon McCullum introducing a new aggression to the English ranks.
For both teams, it is a time of optimism in an effort to reach greater heights: both would remain focused be on the World Test Championship finals in 2023, and the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of Test cricket. For India, it is an opportunity to turn their 2-1 series lead into a historic series victory, while for England, it is the chance to beat one of the strongest teams in Test cricket and announce to the world that a new era and a new way of playing Test cricket has indeed arrived. Ahead of the series decider, we take a look at 10 very interesting things to know about this Test match at Edgbaston.
1. India have a chance to register their first multi-game bilateral men's Test series victory against England at their home since 2007. They currently lead the five-game series 2-1, having registered wins at Lord’s and The Oval.
2. England have won each of their last three men's Test matches at home; the last time they won more consecutive matches at home was between July 2014 and May 2015 (4 matches), three of these matches were against India.
3. If India win this men's Test match against England, it will result in them registering their most victories in a country outside India in the format; they have currently won nine matches each at England, Australia, West Indies and Sri Lanka; however, their lowest win percentage amongst these four countries is in England, winning only nine of their 67 matches there.
4. India have played seven men's Test matches at Edgbaston, Birmingham, failing to register a victory in any of these matches (D1 L6); it is one of the two venues in England where India have played over five matches and failed to register a win (Old Trafford, Manchester – P9 L4 D5).
5. India have lost their last two men's Test matches away from home, the last time they lost more consecutive matches on the road was a run of three matches between February and December 2020.
6. Since the beginning of 2020, no team has scored a higher percentage of their runs from boundaries than India in men's Test cricket, 53 percent of their runs during this span have come from boundaries; England are ranked seventh in this category at 49 percent.
7. Jonny Bairstow (England) has managed to score a century in each of his last two Test matches, he has done this only once before in his Test career which was also earlier this year; Bairstow has accumulated 774 runs in 2022 (Avg – 64.5), only in 2016 (1470 runs at an avg. of 58.8) has he managed more in a single year since his debut in the format in 2012.
8. England's James Anderson (45) needs five more scalps to reach 50 wickets at Edgbaston, Birmingham; if he manages to do so, it will be the third venue in England where he has taken 50 or more wickets (Lord’s – 116, Trent Bridge – 73); he is already the highest wicket taker at Edgbaston.
9. Ravichandran Ashwin (2,931) is 69 away from becoming the third Indian to score 3,000 runs and take 100 wickets in men's Test cricket. Also, Ashwin (88) is eight away from becoming the highest wicket taker for India against England in men's Test cricket (BS Chandrasekhar – 95; Anil Kumble – 92).
10. Mohammed Shami (42) is eight away from becoming the ninth Indian bowler to take 50 wickets against England in men’s Test cricket. Also, Shami (147) is six away from becoming the fifth highest wicket taker for India in men’s Tests away from home (Harbhajan Singh – 152).
