Akash Deep leads the way as India level England Test series with crushing 336-run win


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Stand-in fast bowler Akash Deep finished with 10 wickets in the match as India sealed a comprehensive 336-run win in the second Test against England in Edgbaston.

Deep, playing because India rested pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, finished with 6-99 in the second innings to bowl England out for 271 for India's first win at the venue.

Deep's match figures of 10-147 were far and away the best of his eight-Test career as India levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

“All of the things we spoke about after the first game, we were spot on with all of those things. The way we came back with our bowling and fielding was tremendous,” said captain Shubman Gill.

“We knew with 400 or 500 we would be in the game, especially if we he held our catches. Both our bowlers bowled brilliantly with the way we were able to get through [England's] top order.

“Akash Deep 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.”

England were set an impossible target of 608 and had only seven wickets in hand at the beginning of the day's play.

India's bowlers knew the scoreboard pressure meant England could not possibly go after the target, which allowed them to bowl according to their own plans all day.

Despite the loss of 10 overs in the morning session due to heavy rain, India had enough overs to put pressure on the hosts.

After rain delayed Sunday's start by more than 90 minutes, England resumed on 72-3 in bright sunshine.

Ollie Pope was 24 not out and Harry Brook, who made a superb 158 during a first-innings stand of over 300 with Jamie Smith, unbeaten on 15.

Deep struck two early blows by dismissing Pope and Brook during a spell of 2-22 in six overs.

Pope had failed to add to his overnight score when he was undone extra bounce. The ball hit him on the glove and forearm before deflecting on to the stumps.

His exit brought in Stokes, on a king pair after his first golden duck in Test cricket in the first innings.

But Stokes avoided the embarrassment of two noughts in the same match with a legside flick.

England were soon 83-5, however, when Brook (23) was lbw to a Deep ball that came in sharply and hit him on the back knee.

Smith, in at 84-5 before making 184 not out in the first innings, walked out to bat with England once more trouble. But he soon struck Deep for a punched four through cover-point.

The wicketkeeper was then fortunate to survive two Deep inswinging deliveries that somehow missed the stumps.

England were 153-6 at lunch. That give India the confidence to go for victory in the second session. Smith batted without any trouble and India focused on getting batters at the other end out.

Chris Woakes got a tame top edge to a short ball from Prasidh Krishna that went to short mid wicket.

With Smith running out of partners, he went on the attack and hit successive sixes off Deep to near his second century of the match. But he went for one pull shot too many and was caught at deep square leg to hand the impressive fast bowler his first five-wicket haul.

England's lower order then chanced their arm and added a few runs. But that only delayed the inevitable.

Deep finished the match by getting Brydon Carse to top edge one to captain Gill at cover. It was India's biggest away win in terms of runs.

It turned out to be a perfect match for captain Gill, who on Saturday became the first batsman in Test cricket to post scores of 250 and 150 in the same match.

The 25-year-old followed his majestic 269 in the first innings with a dashing 161 off 162 balls in the second.

Gill has now 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.

“I wouldn't say it's a concern,” said England captain Stokes after the loss. “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.”

Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

UAE tour of the Netherlands

UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed

Fixtures: Monday, first 50-over match; Wednesday, second 50-over match; Thursday, third 50-over match

Updated: July 06, 2025, 6:16 PM`