India Win The Lord's Test In Style
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-08-16 18:41:00
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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India won the second Test against England at Lord's by 151 runs as the Indian pacers showed character, discipline and killer instinct to bowl England out for just 120 runs in the second innings to force a memorable victory. It was an engrossing day's play at the hallowed ground as the Indian tail wagged in the morning to add valuable runs. India declared at 298 for 8 leaving them 60 overs to get England out or for the hosts to get 272 runs for the win. In the end, India needed just 51.5 overs to bowl them out as England put up a horrendous batting performance to lose the match by not being able to play out just two sessions.
Things started well for England in the morning as Ollie Robinson dismissed the overnight batsmen Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma within 30 minutes to reduce India to 209/8. But then a brilliant Mohammed Shami stitched an 89-run partnership with Jasprit Bumrah for the ninth wicket and took the game away from England. Although getting 272 in 60 overs was improbable, England was expected to bat out two sessions to save the match.
But the Indian pace quartet had other ideas and applied sustained pressure brilliantly and with England losing wickets at regular intervals, it was just a matter of time before India cleaned it up. It was the first time in the 141-year history of Test cricket that both England openers scored a duck at home. Only Joe Root and Jos Buttler showed some resistance but could only helplessly watch wickets falling at the other end. Perhaps the turning point of the match was when Bumrah produced a nearly unplayable delivery to get in-form Joe Root to snick one low to Virat Kohli in the slips who took a sharp, low catch. Although Kohli dropped Buttler later in what was an easier catch, it did not turn out to be costly as Mohammed Siraj cleaned up the remaining batsmen. Siraj bowled with penetration in both the innings and it was a treat to watch him question the English batsmen with most deliveries.
Although the match was poised evenly on the last morning and both teams had almost equally shared the various sessions leading to the day, in the end India proved to be superior on the final day and took the honours. For India there were a lot of positives from the match. The way K L Rahul is shaping up in this series it seems that India's opening woes are settled for now. Although Virat Kohli is not getting in the groove despite getting starts, it is just a matter of time before he plays a big innings. Rahane showed temperament in the second innings. But the bowling of all the pacers, especially Siraj, was the biggest positive as they extracted movement, pace and bounce from the slowish Lord's wicket to take all 20 English wickets in the match and put India on top.
