England vs India Tests 2021 (in England): Series Ends 2-2 — Bumrah 23 Wickets, Root 736 Runs, 5th Test Abandoned Due to COVID Then Rescheduled to Edgbaston 2022

The India tour of England Tests 2021 ended 2-2 with 1 draw across 5 Tests. In 2021: 1st Test at Trent Bridge (drawn); 2nd Test at Lord's (India won by 151 runs); 3rd Test at Headingley (England won by an innings and 76 runs); 4th Test at The Oval (India won by 157 runs). India led 2-1 after 4 Tests. The 5th Test at Old Trafford was abandoned on Day 1, September 10, 2021, due to COVID-19 cases in India's support staff. The rescheduled 5th Test was played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, July 1-5, 2022 — England won by 7 wickets (Jonny Bairstow 114*, Joe Root 76*; India scored 416 & 245; England replied with 284 & 378/3). Final series result: 2-2. Jasprit Bumrah took 23 wickets across the series (leading wicket-taker). Joe Root scored 736 runs (leading run-scorer). Rohit Sharma scored 368 runs. Ollie Robinson took 21 wickets. Virat Kohli captained India in the 2021 Tests (Tests 1-4); Jasprit Bumrah captained India in the rescheduled Edgbaston 5th Test (July 2022, Kohli not travelling). Joe Root captained England for all 5 Tests.

India Led 2-1 After 4 Tests: The 2021 Bilateral Before the COVID Abandonment

India leading 2-1 after the four 2021 Tests — Lord's 2nd Test (India won by 151 runs), Headingley 3rd Test (England won by an innings and 76 runs), The Oval 4th Test (India won by 157 runs) — with the Trent Bridge 1st Test drawn, gave the 2021 bilateral the series narrative that the COVID-enforced 5th Test abandonment interrupted: India in position to win an away series in England if they could win or draw the 5th Test at Old Trafford. The 5th Test being abandoned on the morning of Day 1 (September 10, 2021) — India's support staff reporting COVID-19 positive tests, India expressing inability to field a full team and refusing to play on health grounds — left the series in an unresolved 2-1 (India leading, 1 drawn) state, with the ICC subsequently ruling this was not a forfeit and the match would be rescheduled. The abandonment's bilateral significance: India were on course for their first Test series win in England since the 2007 series under Rahul Dravid — Bumrah's 23 wickets, Root's 736 runs, and India's 2-1 lead suggesting a genuine bilateral contest where India's pace attack (Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Shardul) had exploited English seam conditions.

The Rescheduled Edgbaston 5th Test (July 2022): Bairstow 114* and England's 7-Wicket Win

The rescheduled 5th Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham (July 1-5, 2022) — played nearly 10 months after the Old Trafford abandonment — producing England winning by 7 wickets (Jonny Bairstow 114*, Joe Root 76*, England chasing 378/3 successfully) gave the 2021-22 series its ultimate bilateral result: 2-2 (with 1 draw), England levelling the series from 2-1 down. The Edgbaston 5th Test was the first Test played in England's Bazball era (the first home Bazball series — England 3-0 NZ in June 2022 — had already occurred before the Edgbaston match), making Bairstow's 114* and England's aggressive run-chase of 378 part of the new Bazball approach rather than the more conservative England captaincy of the 2021 Tests. India's Bumrah captaining the Edgbaston Test — Kohli not travelling for the standalone match — produced the unusual bilateral circumstance of India's leading bowler (23 series wickets) also captaining the 5th Test that levelled the series, a bilateral that had started under Kohli's leadership and ended with Bumrah's. Root's 736 series runs across all 5 Tests confirmed him as the bilateral's outstanding batter across the full 5-match series regardless of result.

England vs India Tests 2021 in Context

The India tour of England Tests 2021/2022 — Trent Bridge (drawn), Lord's (India won 151), Headingley (England won innings and 76), The Oval (India won 157), Edgbaston (England won 7 wkts, rescheduled from Old Trafford 2021 abandonment) — produced a 2-2 (1 draw) drawn series with Bumrah's 23-wicket bilateral bowling, Root's 736-run batting, and the 10-month gap between the 4th and 5th Tests as the bilateral's unique structural characteristic. The series' competitive quality — India's pace attack matching England's home seam advantage, India leading 2-1 before the series was paused, England levelling in the Bazball-era Edgbaston rescheduled match — gave the 2021-22 England-India bilateral its identity as one of the most unusual bilateral constructions in modern Test history: one series, two summers, two captains for India (Kohli 2021, Bumrah 2022), and a final result that confirmed neither team had the bilateral quality advantage the 2-1 mid-series lead suggested.