First Test drawn as rain washes out final day

In the end, both teams and fans from across the world were robbed of a tantalising finale on Day five of the 1^st Test between England and India with rain playing spoilsport and washing out the entire day’s play. This anti-climactic ending to a fascinating test match means both teams take home four points each in the inaugural fixture of the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship cycle.

India ended day four on 52-1, needing 157 runs to secure a momentous 1-0 series lead. While Virat Kohli’s side faltered twice in similar situations in the series in 2018, the Men in Blue would have been confident of chasing down 157 on day five with the batting conditions improving throughout the Test match.

Although India couldn’t cross over the line in the 1^st Test, there are plenty of positives to take for Virat Kohli’s side heading into the rest of the series. The biggest plus for the Men in Blue from Trent Bridge was the performance of the seamers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. The 1^st Test at Trent Bridge was only the 2^nd time in Indian cricket history that seamers picked up all 20 opposition wickets, and the likes of Bumrah and Shami bowled with incredible accuracy and skill. Bumrah, in particular, bounced back after a middling performance in the final of the ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand to pick up nine wickets in the match.

Another encouraging sign for India was the performance from KL Rahul at the top of the order on his return to the Test side. Rahul was brought to this tour as a backup middle-order batter, but with Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal both injured, the Karnataka batsman made the most of his opportunity and scored a brilliant 84 in the first innings that helped India get a crucial 95-run lead.

England, on the other hand, head into the 2nd Test on Thursday at Lord’s with few more questions to answer. The batting has been the main concern for the hosts in Test cricket for a few years, and the absence of Ben Stokes in the middle order has exacerbated that problem. Barring Joe Root – who was named the man of the match after scoring 173 runs across both innings – no England batter passed 32 in the match, and the likes of Dan Lawrence and Jos Buttler looked at sea against the potent Indian pace attack.

These batting issues might prompt the hosts to make some changes ahead of the 2nd Test at the Home of Cricket and bring in the likes of Haseeb Hameed or Ollie Pope to provide Joe Root with some support at the top of the order.