Follow UsHead coach Brendon McCullum admitted England made a mistake by opting to bowl first in the second Test against India at Edgbaston, Birmingham. England captain Ben Stokes did the same in the first Test at Headingley, and his team proved him right by chasing down 371 in the final innings.
However, things didn’t quite go as planned in the second Test. After India were asked to bat first, the visitors amassed 587 in the first innings, thanks to their skipper Shubman Gill’s mammoth knock of 269. Meanwhile, England got bowled out for 407, conceding a lead of 180 runs.
Gill wasn’t done yet as the Indian captain once again slammed 161 in the second essay and gave England a target of 608 in the final innings. England have been chasing well under the leadership of Stokes, but this was way beyond their capability, as they ended up losing the game by 336 runs.
"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," said McCullum, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"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 5 and we weren't able to capitalise 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.
"It was only a brilliant partnership from Jamie Smith and Harry Brook which gave us any balance in the game throughout the five days. That's something we've got to look at. We're not rigid with our plans. It's just we thought this pitch might get better to bat on as we went through the five days but as we saw it didn't."
India were without their ace paceman Jasprit Bumrah, who will be back for the third Test at Lord’s, and McCullum wants England batters to be well prepared.
"I thought Akash Deep bowled outstandingly on that surface. Obviously growing up playing on those types of wickets, he hit his length and was able to utilise the surface where he could.
"He was exceptional. Bumrah will more than likely come back in for the next one so we've just got to make sure we're well planned and well prepared and ready for the next challenge. It will be quite different I imagine to this surface and that's probably a good thing for us.
"We ran second for five days. I thought India played exceptionally well. Shubman Gill was at an elite level and played brilliantly on this pitch. We weren't quite able to play how we wanted to on it and they thoroughly deserved to win."