Ind & Eng Trent Bridge 1st Test ends in a draw after day-five washout

The promised grandstand finish to the Trent Bridge Test never materialised as it rained all morning and all afternoon in Nottingham to force a draw.

India came into the day slight favourites, needing a further 157 runs with nine wickets in hand on a quick-scoring ground whose pitch seemed to have settled down from the treacherous pit it had been in the first innings.

However, England would be quick to point out that in 2018 they had stopped India in two sub-250 chases in the fourth innings. India might argue this Test was different because the conditions kept getting better throughout the match. The scoring rates kept improving as the match progressed, which is usually an indicator of a pitch getting better to bat on.

We will never know which team really lost out because of the rain, but they will both take four World Test Championship points each from the



match.

The next Test starts at Lord's on Thursday Aug.12.

England go to London with questions around their main batters after player-of-the-match Joe Root almost single-handedly saved them this Test. In scoring a fifty and a hundred, Root looked a level above his team-mates, and not for the first time either.

India would be slightly more concerned about Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane than they were a week ago, but they would be overjoyed with the bonus of KL Rahul's latest coming as an opener. It appeared they were not looking at Rahul as an opener anymore, but as India lost Mayank Agarwal to concussion two days before the Test - Shubman Gill had been ruled out already - Rahul had to step in.

Rahul more than stepped in by looking India's best batter in both the innings, which means his good friend Agarwal will have to either just wait or replace someone lower in the order.