Brendon McCullum concedes wrong decision cost England during humiliating Edgbaston defeat by India
Ben Stokes opted to bowl, just as he had done in the first Test in Leeds where his team opened up a 1-0 lead, but this time it backfired as England crashed to a 336-run loss on a dry surface.
'As the game unfolded we probably looked back on that toss and said, "Did we miss an opportunity there", and it's probably fair,' said England coach McCullum.
'We didn't expect the wicket would play quite as it did and hence we probably got it slightly wrong.'
While India piled up 1,014 runs — their highest match aggregate in Tests, fuelled by captain Shubman Gill's scores of 269 and 161 — England slumped to 84 for five in their first innings and then lost half their side for 83 in the second.
India controversially rested their world-class opening bowler Jasprit Bumrah, but his replacement Akash Deep ran amok with match figures of 10 for 187.
'It was only a brilliant partnership from Jamie Smith and Harry Brook which gave us any balance in the game throughout the five days,' McCullum added of the sub-standard performance.
'That's something we've got to look at. We're not rigid with our plans. It's just we thought this pitch might get better to bat on as we went through the five days, but as we saw it didn't.'
Stokes had his own view of things after extending his policy of asking opponents to bat first in English conditions to 10 times in 11 Tests, saying simply 'no one's got a crystal ball'.
After losing for just the second time in that sequence, Stokes said: 'Having them 211 for five, we were happy there — even five-down at the end of day one.
'We just weren't able to bust them open. We had a chance to bowl them out for under 350 on that wicket, which would have been a good effort.'
However, England were taken for 587, trailed by 180 runs on first innings and, after failing to bat out for the draw, head to Lord's for the third Test on Thursday level in the series.
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