England head coach Brendon McCullum admits that captain Ben Stokes made a huge blunder with his decision to bowl first on a flat Edgbaston surface in the second Test against India. The visitors raked up a huge score of 587 runs on the back of skipper Shubman Gill's sublime double century. While Stokes backed his team to chase anything above 400, the visitors completely batted the hosts out of the game by posting 427 runs - an overall lead of 608 to shut the door on England.
English batters' bazball approach fell flat on the face while chasing such a huge target as they were bundled out for just 271 runs. Akash Deep starred with the ball by picking six wickets. McCullum admitted that England were chasing for the majority parts of the game and felt the skipper's decision to bowl first was not ideal.
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"I think, as the game unfolded, we probably looked back on that toss and said, 'Did we miss an opportunity there?' and it's probably fair," the England boss said.
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"We didn't expect that the wicket would play quite as it did, and hence we probably got it slightly wrong. But we did have them 200 for five, and we weren't able to capitalize on that position, and when you win the toss and bowl, you're hoping to, well, you're not anticipating the opposition's going to score 580, and then, from that point, we're behind the game.
Ben Stokes taken aback by a dry Edgbaston surface
Ben Stokes, who decided to field first, thought the wicket would get good for batting like it did in the first Test in Leeds when he opted to bowl first after winning the toss. However, the Edgbaston wicket got a touch slower for batting on days four and five. The southpaw though accepted that they were out-skilled by India in the second Test.
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"To be honest, it probably ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch as it got deeper and deeper into the game," the home captain told Test Match Special post-match.
"There was certainly a little bit in it to start off with, and I think we exposed that very, very well early on. Then just as it sort of got deeper and deeper, it just became a real tough slug for us."
The third Test will be played on Thursday, July 10, at the Lord's Cricket Stadium. The five-match series is squared up 1-1.
