India beat England by 151 runs in the Lord's test on a gripping Day 5.
Brief Scores: India 289/8 dec (Rahane 61, Shami 56, Wood 3/51) and 364 beat England 120 (Root 33, Siraj 4/32, Bumrah 3/33) and 391 by 151 runs.
Third Test victory for India at Lord’s, emotions run high as Team India turn the game in their favour to win from a dubious position. A rivalry developing amidst a close contest sees India come out on top, after what can be called an enthralling day 5 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
India started the day at 181/6, only 154 runs ahead with no batsmen to follow and an entire day of cricket to be played. India seemed to find themselves in deeply troubled waters with hopes to hang on and play out the game for an ‘optimistic’ draw.
All hinged on Rishabh Pant but wait there is more to the story
One would assume the game plan going into day 5 would be for the lower order batsmen to bat around Rishabh Pant, with the latter harboring more of the strike and attacking at deliveries in his arc. As cricket would have it, a see-saw close game held another turn with Pant getting out early, playing a slightly off-stump line to Ollie Robinson in the third over of play.
Lower order batting being a highlighted talking point from the Indian dressing room, showcased more than talk with their resilient character to stand up in the face of an almost forsaken position. Ishant Sharma added 16 crucial runs before Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah held together a 89-run (120 balls) partnership, playing out the entire session before lunch, not only eliminating the possibility of a loss but also placing the team at an advantageous position with the possibility of bowling the opposition over before end of play.
Shami-Bumrah show
England, on a high after getting the wicket of Pant, placed their fielders at deep catching positions with the presumption of the lower order bats to swing around miscued shot towards them. The character of Team India to rise up in situations of crisis featured the two premier fast bowlers – Shami and Bumrah - coming onto the crease with batsmen’s mindset, defending good deliveries and taking the singles on offer.
In the face of the ever-ticking scoreboard, it seemed like England had lost the plot, bowling deliveries which were directed at the batsmen rather than the stumps. Drama was not short on the last day with the lower order bats fired up and showing their intent with their words as well as with the bat. Shami driving the ball on the up, hit lovely cover boundaries throughout his innings to bring up a game-changing half century.
Bumrah scored his highest Test score of 34*. He got fired up after a war of words with Jos Buttler and there was no looking back from that point as he along with Shami stitched India’s highest ninth wicket partnership for India against England in England amounting to 89* runs eclipsing the previous record for that wicket which was held by Kapil Dev and Madan Lal.
Dev and Lal had added 66 runs at Lord’s in 1982. It is also noteworthy that the Bumrah-Shami stand is the second-highest for the ninth wicket for India against England and stands just below the 104-run stand between Ravi Shastri and Madan Lal for the ninth wicket in Delhi in 1981.
India set England 272 runs to win in 60 possible overs
India declared two overs post lunch, giving England a target of 272 and themselves 60 overs to bowl out the opposition. Conditions playing favors to the Indian team this time around gathered cloud covers right before the hosts came out to bat. A dream start for India saw the two English openers, Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, out for ducks within the first two overs.
Haseeb Hameed and English Captain Joe Root came under severe pressure with their team’s score at 2/1, playing out balls to stabilise and restrict further fall of wickets. However, the new ball zipping around, with swing, pace and bowlers bowling near perfect line and lengths gave the impression of immense difficulty for the Englishmen.
Ishant Sharma swings into action in the 16th over
Post a dropped catch of Haseeb Hammed, an eventual wicket fell in the 16th over by Ishant Sharma. Ishant clipped out 2 wickets and conceded only 13 runs off his 10 overs. Jonny Bairstow was the second one out leg before the wicket to Ishant. Root fell after lunch to Bumrah, playing a ball outside the off stump and holing out to his counterpart Virat Kohli standing at first slip. India were finally able to restrict the opposition captain to a low score this series.
Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler frustrate India; Siraj rises to the occasion
Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler put up a solid defensive batting display to play out around 16 overs. Virat Kohli dropped Buttler at 2 and then Moeen edged one to the keeper off a no ball by Ravindra Jadeja.
However, Mohammed Siraj swinged the ball immaculately to the batters and got Moeen Ali and Sam Curran off consecutive deliveries. Buttler along with Robinson, played out 12 overs. Siraj undoubtedly has been a revelation for India on the tour. In the Lords's test, his final figures read 8/126.
India go up by 1-0
India turned around the game and took their first win of the series which holds more context than a paper victory. The gripping contest from both sides held the viewer captive through the 5 days. Joe Root in his closing comments stated that there is a lot more play coming up while Virat Kohli, the Indian captain ended the day saying, “We thought with 60 overs to go we could have a crack at the result and we had the belief that we can get them out.”
“What happened in our second innings with our bowlers with the tension on the field really helped and motivated us to finish the game,” he added.
KL Rahul was adjudged Player of the Match for his classy century (129) in the first innings.
Areas where India could improve – Slip catching, DRS calls and attacking strategy
The worries for India will hover around improving their slip catching and field placements going into the next game and the series. A more attacking mindset would also help. What with the reluctance to bowl short to square up batsmen on the crease to a predominantly leg side field. It is something India could have tried against Joe Root first up when he took to the crease with England reeling at 2/1. India’s most experienced seamer Ishant Sharma would have been the ideal choice to do the honours but he was brought in only in the 16th over and finished with 10-3-13-2. India, of course won in the end and had England bowled out for 120 but the presence of a killer instinct could have definitely seen a bigger margin of victory.
The Decision Review System (DRS) calls taken by Virat Kohli need much more precision and certainty. Something where he could use the observation skills of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. The success rate in the last 20-odd reviews of India has been around 20 per cent and even though the reviews taken in the second innings were good and precise, in the long term more efficiency is needed in this aspect.
Kohli accepted as much in the post-match presentation. "I go by instinct. If you don't take chances, you will never know. I get a lot wrong and I'm ready to cop all the criticism for it," he said.
India’s third win at Lord’s, Virat Kohli’s 37th win as captain
- This is India’s eighth victory in England.
- It is India’s third win at Lord’s after wins in 1986 and 2014 at the venue.
- Virat Kohli has surpassed Clive Lloyd in terms of number of wins as a skipper. He has now won 37 Tests out of the 63 he has captained India in. India have lost 15 and drawn 11 under him. Lloyd had won 36 Tests out of 74 he captained West Indies in. West Indies lost 12 and drew 26 under him. The one parallel between the captaincy styles of Kohli and Lloyd is their trust on a lethal pace attack to decimate oppositions.
The teams will now move to Leeds where they will face off against each other in the third Test that will be played from August 25-29. A 10-day break is an ideal one to reorient strategies and further provide impetus to the contests ahead.
Brief Scores: India 364 (Rahul 129, Rohit 83, Anderson 5-62) & 298 for 8 dec. (Rahane 61, Shami 56*, Wood 3-51) beat England 391 (Root 180*, Bairstow 57, Siraj 4-94) & 120 (Root 33, Siraj 4-32, Bumrah 3-33) by 151 runs
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