ENG vs IND, 5th Test: Where did India lose the plot despite a sizeable lead? Jasprit Bumrah explains

Team India dominated the fifth and final Test versus England for most parts only to go down eventually by seven wickets as the five-match Test series, which started during the 2021 English summer, ended in a 2-2 stalemate on Tuesday (July 05) in Edgbaston, Birimingham.

Being asked to bat first, India were in a spot of bother at 98-5 before Rishabh Pant's 146 and Ravindra Jadeja's 104 propelled the Rohit Sharma-less team to 416 in the first innings. In reply, England managed only 284, despite Jonny Bairstow's century, to give a sizeable 132-run lead to the Indian team. India missed a trick by not completely batting England out of contest in their second essay, being dismissed for 245, but still setup a challenging 378-run target for the hosts to level the series.

Ben Stokes-led England's newly formed aggressive approach with the bat tested Jasprit Bumrah & Co. as they lost the plot to eventually lose by seven wickets, despite reducing England to 109-3during the penultimate day's play. An unbroken 269-run fourth-wicket stand between centurions Bairstow and Joe Root (142 not out) took their side past the finish line.

At the post-match presentation, Bumrah explained where India lost the plot. India's Player-of-the-Series (who ended the series with 23 scalps overall) stated,"That's the beauty of Test cricket, even if you have three good days. We fell short with the bat yesterday and that is where we let the opposition in to let the match slip away from us. Ifs and buts can always be there. If you go back, if there was no rain in the first match, we could have won the series. But England played really well. We have drawn the series and both teams played very good cricket and it was a fair result."

This also became the first instance of India failing to defend a 350-run plus total in a Test match. Further, it became the highest target successfully chased down by England in the format. Now, the action will move to the white-ball series, comprising three ODIs and T20Is each.