The England cricket team outplayed the Indians in the fifth rescheduled test match which was played at Edgbaston and won the test match to level the Pataudi series by 2-2 and also retained the trophy. It won’t be wrong to say that the English cricketers have started playing fearless cricket under the leadership of Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum and it is certainly the start of a new era in the English cricket.
While the fifth rescheduled test match will be remembered for quality cricket played by both the sides, it will also be remembered for the unfortunate incidents that took place in the stadium during the test. Many Indian fans reported that they and their families faced racial abuse by some of the English spectators and no action was taken against them even after making repeated complaints.
Although the England and Wales Cricket Board took notice of it after the victims took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to express their annoyance and assured proper investigation into the matter yet we can’t ignore the essential fact that it definitely spoiled the fun of test match for many Indian cricket fans.
The English test skipper Ben Stokes was also unhappy with the racist incidents during the Edgbaston test match and he expressed his disappointment over the same. He took to Twitter and wrote that though he had an amazing week on the pitch, he is really very disappointed after hearing the incidents of racist abuse. He adds that there is no place for such things in cricket and hopefully fans will create a party atmosphere during the short format games because this is what cricket is all about.
Ben Stokes’ tweet read, “Amazing week on the pitch but really disappointed to hear reports of racist abuse at Edgbaston. Absolutely no place for it in the game. Hope all the fans at the white-ball series have a brilliant time and create a party atmosphere. That’s what cricket’s about!!”
Amazing week on the pitch but really disappointed to hear reports of racist abuse at Edgbaston. Absolutely no place for it in the game. Hope all the fans at the white-ball series have a brilliant time and create a party atmosphere. That's what cricket's about!!
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 7, 2022
The 3-match T20I series between India and England started yesterday with India winning the first T20I match by 50 runs. The second T20I game will be played tomorrow while the third will be played on Sunday. India and England will also play 3-match ODI series starting from July 12, while the India team is being led by Rohit Sharma as he is back after recovering from COVID-19, the English team is being led by Jos Buttler in the short format.
Hopefully, the unfortunate incidents of the Edgbaston test won’t be repeated in the remaining matches.