England vs India, second Test player ratings: Shubman Gill bats like a god as Akash Deep and Jamie Smith impress

07.07.2025, 13:00 skysports.com

We rate England and India's players out of 10 - and spoiler alert, give one player 11 - after the tourists' series-levelling, 336-run victory at Edgbaston.

19 in first innings0 in second innings

Oh, Zak.

After a classy and composed 65 from 126 balls in the second innings of the first Test at Headingley helped set up an epic England chase, Crawley took a couple of steps back at Edgbaston, with both of his dismissals coming via loose drives. We've been here before…

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Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain was baffled as to why the opener had switched stances between Tests - he moved outside off stump in Birmingham and chased at wide balls - with the former England captain saying Crawley had "let himself down."

As ever with Zak, the highs are high, the lows are low and there is little middle ground. Add in a dropped catch of Rishabh Pant, and Edgbaston 2025 is a Test he will want to forget.

0 in first innings25 in second innings

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Duckett's Headingley heroics - scoring a sweep-laden 149 to set up England's successful pursuit of 371, were always going to be tough to repeat and the left-hander was brought back down to earth at Edgbaston, banished twice by Indian new-ball maestro Akash Deep - the delivery that offed him in the second innings was a cracker.

0 in first innings24 in second innings

Pope has a tendency to start series well before fading and he will want to make sure that doesn't happen here. After his brilliant hundred in Leeds - which, temporarily at least, ended the chatter about Jacob Bethell nicking his No 3 spot, the England vice-captain has registered scores of eight, nought and 24…

22 in first innings6 in second innings

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Root was England's third top-scorer in the first innings - although that was more down to the six ducks suffered by others than because he contributed a knock of note, snicking down leg for 22.

If that was frustrating then falling for six second time around was one he will just have to take on the chin: there was little batter fault here, with Root bowled by a jaffa from Deep that straightened from a wide-of-the crease line.

Root's better-than-part-time off-spin could also have been used more by Ben Stokes.

158 in first innings23 in second innings

This has been a weird series for Brook.

If decisions had gone India's way and Jasprit Bumrah kept his foot behind the line at Headingley, his runs return could have read, for the want of a better phrase, pretty much naff all.

Yet he scored 99 in Leeds and then a brilliant 158 in Birmingham - after a skittish start - when a 303-run stand with the next Adam Gilchrist, Jamie Smith (more on him in a bit) had England dreaming of a remarkable comeback win that ultimately wasn't meant to be.

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0 in first innings33 in second innings

Not Stokes' finest Test. A decision to bowl first at the toss that spectacularly backfired, largely inactive with the ball on a surface that only a batter could love, and registering a golden duck in the first innings before his second-dig dismissal ended any real hope the hosts had of salvaging a draw. His batting form is concerning.

184no in first innings88 in second innings

Maybe Smith deserves a 10 but the fact he wasn't quite able to muster twin centuries knocks him down half a score. I'm not sure he will care too much what we think, though.

He looks set to feature in this rating business for years to come after becoming a key member of the side just 12 Tests in, during which he has struck five fifties and two tons.

His 80-ball century in the first innings was a hoot - Gilchrist-esque, if you will - and his 88 in the second kept England in the hunt for a draw before he holed out off the impressive Deep.

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2-81 in first innings0-61 in second inningsScores of 5 and 7

A better outing for Woakes than at Headingley when he appeared short of a gallop.

His opening spell on day one, which included four maidens, yielded only the wicket of KL Rahul but he could have had three if not for DRS. Those marginal calls going against him led to the widely-accepted 'nicest man in cricket' even dropping an F-bomb.

He was largely put out to pasture after that with Stokes perhaps wanting to keep him fresh for Lord's later this week. As while Edgbaston is Woakes' home, Lord's is his palace - a bowling average of 12.90 in seven Tests at the 'Home of Cricket's underscoring that.

1-83 in first innings1-56 in second inningsScores of 0 and 38

A recurrence of a toe issue that derailed his winter means Carse appears unlikely to play at Lord's, although that is not necessarily a reflection of his bowling ability as he was decent in Birmingham. He also spanked the ball about a bit with the bat on day five.

2-119 in first innings2-93 in second innings

Tongue managed to dismiss proper batters at Edgbaston - uprooting Rahul's middle stump was quite the sight - after failing to do so at Headingley when he simply wiped out the tail, he was not really a constant threat and having bowled 43 overs, he looks set for a rest at Lord's. Jofra Archer a likely replacement.

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3-167 in the first innings2-119 in the second innings

Spinner Bashir did the donkey work for England, getting through a whopping 71 overs. He is adding variation to his bowling - including developing a carrom ball - deceived Pant with a slow delivery in the first innings, and was not exactly hit out of the attack. But India are happy to milk a man who poses little consistent danger.

87 in the first innings28 in the second innings

This lad loves facing England. Three of his five tons have come against Stokes' boys and he looked primed to chalk up a fourth against this opposition until he went after a wide long hop from Stokes and fell 13 runs short. To say he was livid, would be an understatement. There was also a bit of drama in Jaiswal's second-innings exit with Stokes irate at the timing of his ultimately failed lbw review, feeling the opener had run out of time. He probably had.

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2 in the first innings55 in the second innings

The classy Rahul - whose cover drives got Sky Sports' Mark Butcher all hot and bothered - struggled in the first innings against a reinvigorated Woakes and eventually chopped on but was back to his beautiful best in the second dig, compiling an 18th Test fifty.

31 in the first innings26 in the second innings

What a peculiar Test career this boy has had: a top-score of 303 not out against England in 2016 and a best other than that of 31 across 10 innings. That 31 came at Edgbaston, when he snicked off to Carse in both innings, not exactly nailing the No 3 spot he had been promoted to with Sai Sudharsan dropped.

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269 in the first innings161 in the second innings

Batting-wise, matches don't really get better than this. First man to score 200 and 150 in the same Test check? Second-most runs ever by a batter in a single Test? Check. Beautiful drives? Check. Big sixes? Check? Three hundreds for the series? Check. You get the idea…

The only way Gill was going to get criticised was if his declaration ended up coming too late to force a win. But the timing worked out perfectly in the end, giving Deep two goes with a hard new ball - one on the fourth evening, a second on the fifth morning. Deep delivered and Gill could toast his first Test win as a captain.

25 in the first innings65 in the second innings

You can't help but love this guy. After captivating twin tons at Headingley were followed by a sedate first innings at Edgbaston, he produced pyrotechnics aplenty in the second. Eight fours, three sixes, the bat slipping out of his hand twice - including when he was dismissed by Bashir; the blade at midwicket, the ball at mid-off.

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89 in the first innings69no in the second inningsOne wicket in the match

Up to No 6 after a reshuffle of the batting order, Jadeja passed fifty in each innings as India made hay. Quieter with the ball as seamers Deep and Mohammed Siraj hogged the headlines but struck on the final day to remove Tongue, by virtue of a stunning Siraj catch.

1 in the first innings1 in the second inningsNo wickets from six overs.

We try not to dip below threes when handing out ratings, just to be kind, but we are going to give all-rounder Reddy the same mark as the number of runs he scored. Deux. One in the first innings - bowled shouldering arms - and same in the second - holing out at long off. Only bowled six overs as well in an innocuous outing.

0-73 in first innings1-28 in second inningsScores of 42 and 12no

It always appeared India would play a second spinner at Edgbaston with many calling for that to be the wicket-taking left-armer Kuldeep Yadav. Instead, the tourists plumped for off-spinning all-rounder Washington to bolster the batting after collapses in Leeds.

It proved an inspired pick. Washington stitched a century stand with Gill in India's first innings and then dismissed Stokes on the final day to speed up India's victory push.

0-72 in first innings1-39 in the second

With Deep performing so, so well at Edgbaston and Krishna not, you imagine the latter will make way for the returning Bumrah at Lord's. Krishna was taken for 23 in one over by Smith as his short-ball plan failed and only bagged one wicket in the match.

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6-70 in first innings1-57 in second innings

Stepped up as the leader of the attack in Bumrah's absence with his first-innings six-for including the wickets of Root and Stokes fr