“It should be 1-1 going to Lord’s” - Former captain’s huge statement ahead of Day 4 of ENG vs IND 2025 2nd Test

Former captain Michael Vaughan has said that Team India are huge favorites to win the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, to level the series and head to the third Test at Lord's. The Men in Blue have largely dominated the first three days of the ongoing contest, and currently have a lead of 244 runs in their second innings with nine wickets in hand.

After being put into bat first, Team India learnt from their past mistakes and made the most of the reinforced batting depth to post a mammoth 587 in the first innings. The bowling unit also stepped up in Jasprit Bumrah's absence to rattle the England top-order, and reduce them to 84-5 early on Day 3.

Although the bowlers let go of control to allow Jamie Smith and Harry Brook post a 303-run partnership for the sixth wicket, they pulled things back to induce a collapse and hand the batters a massive lead to work with.

Vaughan opined that India have the second Test in the bag, and can be prepared for Jasprit Bumrah's return at Lord's.

"India should win this game, it should be 1-1 going to Lord's. Bumrah will come back into the side, probably at the expense of Prasidh Krishna. If India play the same intense cricket they have done for three days, if they can carry on that mindset they should ask enough questions of England this week to level the series," Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.

The former captain also remarked that India will be eyeing a target anywhere around 450 to 500, given England's chasing abilities.

"Look, no one has ever chased over 420, so you look at 450 as your first banker, but I think Shubman will want to have 500. I was really impressed by the way India batted late today where they went out and played their shots, and they got off to a flying start. One of the reasons you have deep batting is for these kinds of situations as well," he said.

"In my mind as a captain, I would not want to be going into Day 5 with no wickets down for England. I would want to give myself enough time tomorrow night to get England 2-3 wickets down. If England are tired now, we have an issue, because they will have to rotate so much over the course of the next few weeks," he added.

England completed their record run chase at the same venue and against the same opposition in 2022. On that occasion, the team chased down 378 to win the match by seven wickets, and level the series 2-2.

"When Jasprit is not around, he knows he is the senior bowler" - Michael Vaughan on Mohammed Siraj's heroics in ENG vs IND 2025 2nd Test

Mohammed Siraj had a massive responsibility on his shoulders as the lead pacer in the second Test while Jasprit Bumrah was being rested. The right-arm pacer bowled well in tandem with Akash Deep with the new ball on Day 2 to dismiss Zak Crawley, before making the early breakthroughs on Day 3 as well.

He wiped up the tail towards the end of the innings to end with figures of 6-70, marking his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

"It might be as simple as he knows when he has to lead. When Jasprit is not around, he knows he is the senior bowler, he probably gets his choice of end as well. I think he is a wonderful character," Vaughan said.

Mohammed Siraj has a bowling average of 33.82 in 23 Tests while playing alongside Jasprit Bumrah. However, in the 15 matches without the spearhead, the number drops down to 25.20.