A spirited performance from the seamers helped India crush England at Lords
As Day 4 ended with the umpire removing the bails judging end of play, Pant and Ishant walked back to the dressing room followed by the English team charged up with rage and confidence to seal the match the next day. Every cricket pundit was certain that the match is surely going England’s way or hard luck could result in a draw. But it was only the Indian Team who backed themselves to come out and play for a win.
Every test match played at Lord’s is a demanding one for the opposition owing to the stadium’s prolonging history and England’s maleficent record. But this time even before the toss, Indians were predicted to have a slight edge over their contenders. With the pitch predicted to support the bowlers on Day1 it was a win toss and bowl situation. The Indian skipper who has been having a miserable time with the toss lost another one and had to put his team to bat as they were poised to face the fiery Anderson who was licking his lips to get the early breakthroughs. Alas, the openers were on a different song, bridging a 100-run partnership and shattering their overseas opening omens. Rohit Sharma being Rohit Sharma got out once again to another short ball, as Rahul kept his cool cruising to a deserving ton. Though Kohli started well he failed to convert it to big innings. At the end of Day 1 India were at a set position to conquer the 400-mark putting extra pressure on the Brits.
But things changed on Day 2 as the English quicks pulled back with successive wickets before Pant- Jadeja rebuilt the innings with a meager 49 run Partnership. But as soon as Pant departed the lower ordered collapsed in quick succession as England were quite relieved to bowl out their opposition for 364. It was still advantage India as they looked to bowl out England below 250 and take lead. However, Root had other plans as he continued his blazing form scoring his fifth century this year. With limited support from Burns and Bairstow by the end of Day 3, Root steered the English ship to a lead of 27 runs equally poising the match. The pitch also turned batter-friendly as the match looked to end up a draw.
As India commenced second innings, their openers were baffled by a brilliant spell from Mark Wood leaving them paralyzed at 55–3. With out-of-form seniors Rahane and Pujara at bay, it looked like the match was heading for an easy England win but that’s when these two decided to step up and steer the innings. They overwent punches thrown at them, dodged sharp knives and escaped speeding bullets but couldn’t contribute much to the scoreboard. As time passed it looked like the Indians were hoping to play for a draw. By the end of Day 4, these both couldn’t hang on as the scoreboard paused at 181/6 with just a lead of 154 runs. Anything below 200 looked like an easy target for England to chase.
And this is where the real drama unfolded, Test Cricket showed why it’s still the best format of cricket. The Indian tail shows up in the form of Shami and Bumrah who were classified as nonexistent batsmen, and boy oh boy what a mesmerizing display of batting they put on showcasing classy straight drives, elegant cover drives and what not leaving the English bowlers bemused. More drama unfolded as there also a heavy verbal war going on the pitch with Bumrah and the English unit as these both batsmen (fast bowlers) were reluctant to get out. Finally, with 60 Overs left in the final day, Kohli decided to declare their innings giving England a mammoth 4th innings target of 271.
As English openers entered the arena they were puzzled looking at the Indian unit pumped and charged up roaring to go after them ball after ball, and it didn’t take more than 4 balls to remove the first scalp of Burns as his assistant also followed up scoring a duck. The match was set to an edge-of-the-seat thriller as England were trying to save themselves ball after ball. The plan was simple for India, get Root out and win the match and Bumrah who was already pumped with his batting performance removed Root ruthlessly. With the top order gone, Buttler and Moeen decided to step up and save the match defending every ball with their heart. That’s when Kohli decided to use his trump card Siraj who was breathing fire and raging to take home victory and he didn’t disappoint his team and fans as he cleaned up the tail with 1 hour of play left.
Team India who’ve recently created History in Australia has shattered more records at the mecca of cricket. And this team is so pumped up with energy and confidence as they look to clean sweep the series against the wounded English side. Nevertheless, the series is surely going to a fun-filled ride with more surprises and shockers ahead. Stay tuned and witness Test Cricket at its finest form.
