Steven Finn, the ex-England fast bowler, noticed something odd in the second Test against England: the boundary ropes seemed closer than normal. Fans online also noted the shorter boundaries at Edgbaston. Finn suggested this might relate to England’s Bazball strategy. He observed that England often wins the toss and chooses to chase in the fourth innings, something that shorter boundaries would certainly help with.

I stood right by the boundary rope here at Edgbaston, and it’s definitely closer than you’d expect for a regular Test match, Finn commented on the BBC broadcast. Maybe England wants to win the toss, bowl first, and then chase in the last innings, and that’s why the boundaries are in so far.

In other news, Sachin Tendulkar praised Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill for their batting on day one of the second Test at Edgbaston. Their efforts pushed India to 310/5 by the end of the day.

England chose to bowl first after winning the toss under cloudy skies, keeping their team the same. India, on the other hand, made three changes to their team from the Leeds Test, moving players around for a stronger batting lineup. This strategy was put to the test right away.

Despite a small collapse in the evening, Gill held the innings together with an steady, unbeaten 114. He formed a key, unbroken 99-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (41*) to stabilize the innings and get India to stumps without losing any more wickets.

Jaiswal aggressive innings set the pace in the morning. After India lost KL Rahul early, Jaiswal’s knock of 87 included two important 50+ partnerships with Karun Nair and Gill.

Tendulkar posted on X: @ybj_19 set the tone from the very beginning. He was positive, fearless and cleverly aggressive. @ShubmanGill was calm under pressure, solid in defense, and in complete control. Great knocks from both of them! Well played!