Gutsy Lower-order batting and the incisive four-pronged pace attack enabled India’s resounding victory in the Lord’s Test against England on Monday. Vital contributions with the bat and ball from Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and excellent spells from them and Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj helped the visitors go 1-0 in the five-match series.
Heading into Day 5, with their second-innings lead only 154, India depended heavily on wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant to bail them out of the situation and take his team to safety. Hardly anyone anticipated it is the tail that will end up playing the starring role with the bat.
Even as India lost Pant very early in the piece for a score of just 22, the likes of Ishant (16) initially and then Bumrah, Shami fought gainly and took the game away from England. The Shami-Bumrah 89-run stand in the first session was the defining one, as they made scores of 56 and 34, respectively, to take India’s lead past 270.
Considered part of one of the weakest Test match tails in contemporary cricket, Shami and Bumrah showcased great resilience and defiance under pressure. And once they started to get going, even England lost the plot, trying to get Bumrah involved in a few verbal altercations and delivering a barrage of bouncers, having seen the pacer bowl one to their own tail, especially James Anderson.
While Bumrah went for his stroke, Shami, usually criticised for not trying to hang in there, showed admirable composure and kept ticking singles and twos. He took his chances only when England were forced into introducing off-spinner Moeen Ali, even then hitting over mid-wicket with the spin made a lot of sense. Shami reached fifty with a maximum and now has two scores of 50+ in England.
India did bat for an over and a half after lunch as well, before skipper Virat Kohli called his men back to some great applause from the change room. India had now posted a target of 272 for England to chase in about 60 overs, and with the runs-cushion available and the surface behaving more uneven, Kohli unleashed his quicks to the struggling home team batters.
Bumrah and Shami carried on where they left with the bat and delivered the first two punches, getting openers Rory Burns (0) and Dom Sibley (0) in their burst with the new ball. Shami did not get another wicket on the day but kept the pressure on constantly and gave away just 13 runs off his 10 overs.
Bumrah took another couple, including the prized scalp of England’s in-form captain Joe Root (33), to finish with figures of 3/33. The key aspect of the ace quick’s performance was how he found a way past England batsmen whenever they seemed comfortable defending.
Having gotten Root out nicking behind, Bumrah broke the resistance of lower-order batter Ollie Robinson (9) with a great off-cutter from around-the-wicket, resulting in a plumb LBW.
Even more than Bumrah, perhaps the ones to get the most of what had become a dying surface at Lord’s were Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj, who shared six wickets between them. Ishant pinned Haseeb Hameed (9) and Jonny Bairstow (2) in front of the stumps, while Siraj made the body blows in the lower middle-order, dismissing Ali (13) and Jos Buttler (25) among his four wickets. The young paceman had picked up four in the first innings as well in what will be a game to remember for him and the country.
Brief scores
India 364 (KL Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83; James Anderson 5/62, Ollie Robinson 2/73) & 298/8 decl. (Ajinkya Rahane 61, Mohammed Shami 56*; Mark Wood 3/51, Ollie Robinson 2/41) defeated England 391 (Joe Root 180*, Jonny Bairstow 57; Mohammad Siraj 4/94, Ishant Sharma 3/69) & 120 (Joe Root 33, Jos Buttler 25; Mohammad Siraj 4/32, Jasprit Bumrah 3/33) by 151 runs
