A new-look Team India arrived in England, hoping to win their first Test series here since 2007, but lost at Headingley. India scored over 800 runs with captain Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (twice), KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal all posting centuries, yet suffered a five-wicket defeat. Letting England chase down 371 after such dominance served as a harsh wake-up call.
India must now regroup quickly, not just from the emotional dent at Headingley, but also in response to England’s unchanged XI that oozes confidence. Meanwhile, the visitors continue to wrestle with the selection conundrum. Jasprit Jasprit Bumrah’s workload is an issue and he might be rested.
That Headingley defeat will hang heavily as India head to Edgbaston, a venue that has been never kind to them, for the second Test. Here's a look at India’s Test record at Headingley:
Also read: England vs India: Positive Signs for India as Jasprit Bumrah Hits the Nets Ahead of the 2nd Test
India’s Edgbaston Curse: A Closer Look at the Numbers
After the first Test loss, where India let go of a dominant position with the bat, the mental reset becomes crucial. England’s aggressive fourth-innings chase in Leeds will sting for a while, but at Edgbaston, India are staring at something bigger: a 57-year-old barren run they have never managed to break.
Since first setting foot on this ground in 1967, eight different Indian teams have played here across decades, and each one has returned without a win. The conditions have remained challenging, the crowd has always been vocal, and every time Edgbaston has found a way to push India to the brink.
Whether it was the crushing loss in 2011 when Alastair Cook’s 294 batted India out of the game, or the heartbreak of 2018 when a Virat Kohli masterclass went in vain, this ground has built a reputation as a graveyard for Indian Test hopes.
Their first encounter at the venue came in 1967, when they suffered a 132-run defeat. That match set the tone for what would become a pattern of struggles. The 1974 Test was no better. India lost by an innings and 78 runs. The 1979 visit brought no luck either, another innings defeat, this time by 83 runs. By the end of the 70s, India had played three Tests at Edgbaston, and all three had ended in heavy defeats.
In 1986, under the captaincy of Kapil Dev, India finally managed to walk away without a loss. That match ended in a draw. In 1996, India again ended up on the losing side, this time by eight wickets.
Perhaps the most painful loss came in 2011, a match that saw England amass 710/7 declared, with Cook scoring a colossal 294. India were thrashed by an innings and 242 runs, one of their worst defeats in Test history.
The 2018 Test was a closer contest. Kohli’s brilliant 149 gave India hope, but the team fell 31 runs short in a nail-biting finish. Then came 2022, when England pulled off a record chase of 378, winning by seven wickets.
Win | Loss | Tie | Draw |
|---|---|---|---|
0 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
Shubman Gill and Co. Must Finally End the Edgbaston Hoodoo
There is no sugarcoating it. India’s record at Edgbaston is a mess. Seven losses out of eight. No wins. Generations of Indian cricketers have come here with hope and gone back empty-handed. The names have changed, captains have come and gone, but the result has stayed the same.
Shubman Gill and his side now have a chance to change that. It won’t be easy. Edgbaston has never made it easy. But if India want to move forward as a team under new leadership, there is no better place to start than here, by finally ending the jinx.
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