Player Ratings: How the Indian team fared against England in the Edgbaston Test

Root-Bairstow heroics at Edgbaston has been the limelight of this fascinating Test or, shall I say, series, but Indian bowlers, to their effort, did command great respect with the ball except in the last innings. 

India certainly looked ahead in the first three innings of the match until England did the 'Bazball' again! None of the bowlers looked effective against the duo of Root and Bairstow, although you can blame the dropped catch by Vihari at slips. 

The series ended at 2-2, and India were left feeling the heat at Edgbaston; everything they tried in the fourth innings went against them after having a hard-fought start to the match. 

Well, to end this intriguing series between England and India, the best you could say is that it will be remembered as a modern-day classic with twists and turns and both sides having their moments. India had some great performances, but some were not up to the mark. Below is the performance report card of the visitors for this match.

Shubman Gill - 2.5/10 (21 Runs)

India's opening struggle against English seamers is well known, especially against Broad and Anderson. The last time India overcame that was with the experienced duo of Rohit and Rahul. With both of them being unavailable, Gill was expected to replicate what his senior pros did. However, he managed to find Zak Crawley both times in the slips against the veteran Jimmy Anderson with scores of 17 & 4, respectively.

Cheteshwar Pujara - 7/10 (79 Runs)

Pujara's 66 in the second innings was crucial to getting India's lead past 350. He did manage to find his rhythm as was expected of him after his County heroics. However, after all the hard work he did, his cut shot is what will be haunting him as the century must have been looming on his mind. Nevertheless, Pujara looks all set to retain his position for India's next assignment. 

Hanuma Vihari - 3/10 (31 Runs)

Known to be one of the grittiest players on the Indian side, Vihari looked like a shadow of himself during the rescheduled Test. He did manage to hang out for a while, but everything went in vain as his loose strokes didn't allow him to get any further than 20 & 11, respectively, in both the innings. The dropped catch of Bairstow didn't help his cause either.

Virat Kohli - 3/10 (31 Runs)

If you mirror Hanuma Vihari's scores of 20 & 11, you will get Virat Kohli's scores in this Test match. The sixth-stump line by Matty Potts and a surprise kicked-up delivery from Stokes were the balls that got better of Kohli, but I would not hesitate to say his luck has not been on good terms with him for a long time now. His poor form has been a cause for concern off late, but we all know we're not far away from witnessing something extraordinary from the run-machine. (Fingers Crossed)

Rishabh Pant - 9.5/10 (203 Runs)

Everything he could have done to get out in this match, he did (and yeah, that includes reverse sweeping Jimmy Anderson over slips as he did in Ahmedabad), but his every effort went in vain as he managed to clear the boundaries with ease in his iconic Spider-Pant style, dancing and jumping on the crease, even falling over at times to score remarkable 146 & 57. His wicketkeeping, too, shouldn't be ignored as he was at his best with the gloves. Overall, Pant was the star-man India needed, but, again, as I say, his every effort went in vain.

Shreyas Iyer - 3/10 (34 Runs)

India looked a batter short in the middle in the second innings; the reason why I said this is because Iyer faced 37 deliveries in the entire match and vanished quickly with paltry scores of 15 and 19, his strike rate in the first innings is the only thing he should be proud of (136.36). His drives were elegant, contrary to his displeasing short ball dismissals. If you had asked anyone before the match to predict Iyer's mode of dismissal, even an average cricket fan would have said, "SHORT BALL". (I left that in Caps for a reason)

Ravindra Jadeja - 7.5/10 (127 Runs)

Freed from the captaincy burden in the IPL, Jadeja had a clear motive before this match - to overcome the batting demons that have been haunting him for the past 2-3 months. His redemption couldn't have come at a better stage, especially for someone like him who loves to stand in there and play around with the conditions, taking on the bowlers like Anderson. Although, his bowling looked ineffective as his plan to bowl on the rough from over-the-wicket to right-handers was fruitless.

Shardul Thakur - 2.5/10 (5 Runs & 1 Wicket)

The man with the golden arm, as they call him, failed to produce anything special with the ball, and of course, his batting failed miserably. Thakur was the player to watch out for the last time India toured the English shores with twin fifties in the fourth Test. Apart from the wicket of Ben Stokes, his bowling felt more like a fifth seamer in the squad who is more used to being a fringe player rather than a wicket-taking option. India needed a magician that Shardul couldn't be.

Mohd Shami - 4/10 (2 Wickets)

India's wicket-enforcing spearhead Shami looked pale with just two wickets in the entire match, looking mostly helpless in the second innings. The margin between India's victory and defeat was hanging by a fine thread with Shami in the middle. The length looked fine, but the line wasn't something he would be proud of. 

Jasprit Bumrah - 8/10 (38 Runs & 5 Wickets)

As a skipper, you're expected to be the role model or maybe the leader of the pack. Bumrah did that with a quick-fire 31 in the first innings with the bat and three wickets to complement it. His two wickets in the second innings did open up a chance for India, but they couldn't manage to capitalize on the opportunity. On the captaincy front, Bumrah was looking good as a captain for most of the match, but India, as I say, could be missing Rohit Sharma, the captain.

Md Siraj - 6/10 (4 Wickets)

Siraj, the white ball bowler, is an entirely different player from the red ball bowler who knows how to rattle the opposition. Well, for the first part of the match, he bowled like one with four wickets to his name, but the final innings saw a white ball, Siraj, who could not keep his economy in check, leaking runs at 6.5 per over, and that made the difference. Besides that one ball against Bairstow, which got dropped, Siraj was torn apart by the English counterparts.

India slipped to the 4th position on the WTC table after being defeated in this match. However, they will look to improve their performance in the upcoming Test series against Australia and Bangladesh to secure a berth in the championship finals.