"If they get 600, we were going to go for it"- When James Anderson expressed confidence in England pulling off a miracle against India

An outstanding batting display by India on Day 4 at Edgbaston on Saturday, July 5, left England needing an improbable 608 runs for victory. A win would help them take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. The highest successful run chase in Test cricket is 418 by the West Indies against Australia at Antigua in 2003.

Meanwhile, legendary England pacer James Anderson had once asserted Brendon McCullum's confidence in England chasing a score of 600 runs in the final innings of the match. It came during the second Test of England's tour of India in 2024 at Vizag.

"The chat last night from the coach (Brendon McCullum) was that if they get 600, we were going to go for it," Anderson had said in February 2024. (via Times of India). "It makes it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow. I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That's the way we play, and we saw that tonight with Rehan (Ahmed) going out and playing his shots."

"He wanted to get out there and chase those runs down, even tonight. We have set our stall out, tomorrow will be no different, we will play the same way we have (played) the last two years. Whether we win or lose, it's not relevant because we are extremely competitive and want to win every game we play, but we want to play in a certain way," he added.

England were set 399 runs to win in the final innings of that match. They were bowled out for 292 runs to give the hosts a 107-run win and level the series at 1-1.

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Shubman Gill scores two hundreds in the match to put India in the driver's seat in Edgbaston Test

Indian captain Shubman Gill made his second century of the match, scoring 161 runs to go with his 269 in the first innings on Day 4. He became the first Indian captain to score a double hundred and a hundred in the same match.

He also went past Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 344 runs to become the Indian batter to make the highest run aggregate in a single Test match. India declared at 427/6 in their second innings to set England 608 runs for a win. At the time of writing, the hosts were 47/2 after eight overs.