‘Year Of Chaos, Lot Of Teams Who Haven’t Won A Lot Have Won’: Shubman Gill Draws Inspiration From RCB’s IPL 2025 Win For Edgbaston Test Against England | Cricket News
India’s Test captain Shubman Gill, speaking at the toss ahead of the second Test of the five-match series, reflected on how 2025 has been a surprising and chaotic year in the world of sports with several underdog teams breaking barriers and lifting major titles. He added that the current Indian Test side is drawing inspiration from these remarkable stories as they look to script one of their own. Notably, India have a dismal record at Edgbaston, Birmingham, having played eight Tests at the venue without a single win. Of those, seven have ended in defeat, while one was drawn. Now, under new leadership and in the spirit of this underdog fuelled year, Gill and his men will be eager to finally turn the tide at a ground that has long haunted them.
The year 2025 has turned into a celebration of long-awaited triumphs as underdog teams across cricket and football broke historic droughts. Paris Saint-Germain finally clinched their first UEFA Champions League title. Tottenham Hotspur ended a 17-year wait by winning the Europa League. South Africa captured their first ICC trophy in 27 years by winning the World Test Championship. South Australia ended a 29-year drought by lifting the Sheffield Shield. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) claimed their maiden IPL title after 18 years of heartbreak. Hobart Hurricanes won their first-ever BBL title after 14 seasons. Crystal Palace pulled off a fairy-tale run to lift the FA Cup for the first time in 119 years. Newcastle United capped it off with a historic Carabao Cup win, ending a 70-year silverware wait.
What did Gill say?
“This year has been a year of chaos. A lot of teams who haven’t won a lot have won, so maybe that’ll change fortunes for us [at Edgbaston,” he said.
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to field first against India in the second Test of a five-match series at
Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham. The hosts lead the series 1-0 after having defeated Shubman Gill led side by 5 wickets in the first tests at Headingley, Leeds. India made three changed from their previous Lineup dropping Sai Sudharsan and Prasidh Krishna, Meanwhile Jasprit Bumrah has been rested due to workload management. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Akashdeep will play in this Test.
“Three changes. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar come in. And in place of Bumrah, Akash Deep is playing. This is an important match for us, but third match at Lord’s there may be something more in the wicket and we thought we’ll play him there. We were very tempted to play [Kuldeep] but looking at the last match we wanted to add some depth to the batting,” said Gill.
India vs England playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
