Jaiswal rebuilds India after being made to bat first by England at Edgbaston

By Canadian Press on July 2, 2025.

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — India was 98-2 at lunch after being made to bat first by England to start the second test at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was 62 not out, after Lokesh Rahul chopped on to his stumps on 2 early on, and Karun Nair was out minutes before lunch when he picked out second slip.

Rahul’s wicket was reward for England’s tight bowling on a dry, batter-friendly pitch under sunny skies.

Then Nair’s ambition sparked Jaiswal out of uncharacteristic caution and they accelerated to hit 16 boundaries in a stand of 80 runs off 90 balls.

But Nair’s wicket stopped the session from being dominated by India.

Captain Shubman Gill was with Jaiswal on 1.

The first hour was attritional for India, with England seamer Chris Woakes particularly effective.

He got Rahul out and had big lbw shouts against Jaiswal on 12 and Nair on 5. Both times the ball was tracking to clip the top of off stump but the batters survived on umpire calls.

Nair was promoted from No. 6 in the batting order to No. 3 for the first time in a test and quickly passed Jaiswal’s score by driving at Woakes and Josh Tongue.

Jaiswal was unusually strangled but didn’t give England the mistake it was waiting for. He opened up in the second hour by smashing fuller-length deliveries to the boundary by Tongue and Ben Stokes.

His rising confidence brought out his imagination, including an overhead volley smash of Stokes to the boundary. He brought up his 50 with his 10th boundary — an overhead cut, on his toes, off Tongue. His 16th 50-plus score in his 21st test came off 58 balls.

Nair fell softly after a bowling change and the return of Brydon Carse.

India revealed its lineup after England won the toss and surprised by resting its best bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, and not picking wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who was missed in the series-opening loss in Leeds last week.

Sai Sudharsan, who made his test debut in Leeds, and Shardul Thakur were dropped and Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar picked in an attempt by India to try and balance batting depth with a side that can take 20 wickets. India became the first side to lose a test after hitting five centuries.

Bumrah was replaced by Akash Deep.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

The Associated Press