BIRMINGHAM: Akash Deep took 10 wickets in a Test match for the first time as India thrashed England by 336 runs at Edgbaston on Sunday for a series-levelling win.

Deep was playing in the second Test of the five-match series after India rested outstanding quick Jasprit Bumrah. The 28-year-old took 6-99 as England, set a mammoth 608 runs to win, were dismissed for 271 on the fifth day.

Deep’s match figures of 10-147 were far and away the best of his eight-Test career.

Jamie Smith was the lone England batsman to pass fifty in the second innings, with an 88 that followed his brilliant 184 not out first time around.

A crushing victory gave India their maiden Test win in nine matches at Edgbaston, following seven defeats and a draw at the Birmingham ground.

The game was also a personal triumph for Indian captain Shubman Gill who became the first batsman in Test cricket to post scores of 250 and 150 in the same match.

The 25-year-old’s majestic 269 in the first innings was followed by a dashing 161 off 162 balls in the second.

Gill has scored three hundreds in his first two Tests as captain following his 147 during India’s five-wicket loss in the series opener at Headingley, where his side dropped several catches.

India produced a much-improved fielding display at Edgbaston, as they outplayed England in all aspects.

“The way we came back with our bowling and fielding was tremendous,” said player-of-the-match Gill at the presentation ceremony.

Turning to Deep, he added: “He bowled with so much heart and skilfully with his lengths. He moved it in both directions, which was tough to do. He was magnificent for us.”

The third Test at Lord’s starts on Thursday with Gill confirming Bumrah will “definitely be back for Lord’s”.

Deep and new-ball partner Siraj were more effective than England’s quicks, with the hosts missing the pace provided by the injury-prone duo of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern,” said England captain Ben Stokes. “We ran in, we tried everything, we changed plans, but when a team’s on top of you — and India are a class team — it’s hard to change the momentum.

“Shubman Gill had an unbelievable performance.”

History was against England when they resumed at 72-3 after rain delayed Sunday’s start by more than 90 minutes. No Test side have made more in the fourth innings to win than the West Indies’ 418 against Australia at St John’s in 2003.

India struck an early blow when Ollie Pope failed to add his overnight 24, deflecting a Deep ball of extra bounce onto the stumps. The dismissal was greeted by raucous cheers from the massed ranks of India fans.

Pope’s exit brought in Stokes, on a king pair after his first golden duck in Tests in the first innings.

Stokes, without a Test hundred in two years, avoided the embarrassment of two noughts in the same match with a legside flick. England were soon 83-5, however, when Harry Brook was lbw for 23 to a Deep delivery that hit him on the back knee. Brook had made 158 in the first innings.

Stokes and Smith briefly kept India at bay with a sixth-wicket partnership of 70.

But in the last over before lunch Stokes was lbw for 33 to off-spinner Washington Sundar, the first India bowler other than Deep or Mohammed Siraj to take a wicket in the match. England were 153-6 at the interval.

Smith pulled Deep for two successive sixes to go to 88.

But it was third time unlucky for the 24-year-old when he holed out off the next ball, a well-disguised slower delivery, to give Deep his fifth wicket of the innings.

Deep struck again when Brydon Carse skyed o cover where Gill, fittingly, held the match-clinching catch.

Stokes said fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson could be recalled for the third Test against India after England captain Ben Stokes admitted his attack had failed to “blast them open” at Edgbaston.

Within hours of the loss, England added Atkinson to their squad for Lord’s.

Atkinson is fit again after suffering hamstring trouble against Zimbabwe in May and could join forces for the first time with Archer, who trained with England in Birmingham.

Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue could be the two bowlers to make away after plenty of overs against an India side who’ve scored nearly 1,900 runs, including five individual hundreds, in the opening two games of this series.

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Innings) 587 (S. Gill 269; S. Bashir 3-167)
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 407 (J. Smith 184 not out, H. Brook 158; M. Siraj 6-70) INDIA (2nd Innings) 427-6 decl (S. Gill 161, R. Jadeja 69 not out)

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 72-3):
B. Duckett b Deep 25
Z. Crawley c sub b Siraj 0
O. Pope b Deep 24
J. Root b Deep 6
H. Brook lbw b Deep 23 B. Stokes lbw b Sundar 33
J. Smith c Sundar b Deep 88
C. Woakes c Siraj b Krishna 7
B. Carse c Gill b Deep 38
J. Tongue c Siraj b Jadeja 2
S. Bashir not out 12

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, NB-3, W-2) 13
TOTAL (all out, 68.1 overs) 271
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Crawley), 2-30 (Duckett), 3-50 (Root), 4-80 (Pope), 5-83 (Brook), 6-153 (Stokes), 7-199 (Woakes), 8-226 (Smith), 9-246 (Tongue)
BOWLING: Deep 21.1-2-99-6 (1nb), Siraj 12-3-57-1 (1nb, 1w), Krishna 14-2-39-1 (1nb, 1w), Jadeja 15-4-40-1, Sundar 6-2-28-1

RESULT: India won by 336 runs.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Shubman Gill

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2025