Ben Stokes put up a memorable performance as he put his body on the line to lead England to a memorable 22-run victory at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Monday (July 14) to give the home team a vital 2-1 lead in the five-match Test series against India. Ben Stokes bowled a spell for the ages as India failed to chase 192 in the fourth innings and finished with figures of 3-48 after bowling a stunning 24 overs.
The England captain Ben Stokes dismissed Akash Deep, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah to clinch the Player of the Match (POTM) award.
The 34-year-old Ben Stokes was lauded as he bowled a nine-over spell in the first session and then followed it up with another over spell in the second session. Ben Stokes Player of the Match award is his fourth in a Test match at Lord’s, making him the first player to achieve the feat and breaking a world record, which he shared with Glenn McGrath, Joe Root, and Stuart Broad.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : “There is a bit of grass on it, but it has been cut down a little bit. They want a bit of pace and carry which is why they have left a bit of grass on it. Using the short ball will be key here. The slope is going to play a role, especially with the seamers,” reckons Nasser Hussain.
Toss : England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat with one change in the Playing XI bringing in speedster Jofra Archer for Josh Tongue. India skipper Shubman Gill bowling first made one expected change bringing in star bowler Jasprit Bumrah for Prasidh Krishna.
Day 1 :Â Joe Root leads England’s fight on a challenging Day 1
Joe Root anchored England’s innings on a day when the batters were tested intensively throughout. Joe Root, who crossed 3000 Test runs against India, took an old-fashioned approach of grinding it out and accumulated 99* by the end of the first day at Lord’s.
England’s decision to bat first in the third Test proved to be a tough ask. The decision to bat was uncommon for England at home in recent times, but on a green top that had received a bit of trimming on the first morning, England had shown an intention to change up their plans from the previous two Tests of the series. But conditions were far from ideal for the quick-scoring template that has come to be associated with them, and instead required a lot of waiting and punching while copping some blows along the way.
For a major part of his innings, Joe Root had Ollie Pope alongside as they fought their way through a partnership worth 109 in 211 balls, which helped England recover after losing a couple of early wickets. India’s attack had done well early in the day to mount pressure on the hosts.
With the pace attack bolstered by the return of Jasprit Bumrah, in place of Prasidh Krishna, the openers were tested in a variety of ways. There was some movement on offer for both Bumrah and his new-ball partner Akash Deep. But alongside, there was also some uneven bounce that at times came to their rescue. Genuine edges fell short of the wicketkeeper or the slip cordon right through the first hour. Consequently, the plays and misses too increased with the ball showing enough deviation off the surface.
The false shot percentage in the first 15 overs was 38.4% – the highest for the first 15 overs of any Test innings in England since 2006. England’s pace in scoring was down as a result, with boundaries not coming by as frequently as they have normalised in the Bazball era.
While both Akash and Bumrah being unlucky not to have a wicket against their name, Nitish Reddy found himself at the other end of that spectrum. In his first over he had Ben Duckett gloving a pull down the legside. A couple of balls later, he produced a peach of an away-seamer to get Zak Crawley nicking behind. In between, Reddy could have had another if Shubman Gill had latched onto a tough low chance at gully.
But Pope rode his luck alongside a busy Root to weather that storm with a fighting partnership. Scoring had been reduced to a snail’s pace and they went through a phase where there were no runs score for over four overs consecutively. The run-rate of 2.91 was also England’s second-slowest at home in the Bazball era over a full season.
Nevertheless, Root went on to register his 103rd score of fifty or more with Pope also nearing the milestone by the stroke of Tea. But immediately after the break, Pope was caught behind attempting a dab off Ravindra Jadeja. Stand-in ‘keeper Dhruv Jurel, who had come in after Rishabh Pant injured his finger in the second session, took a sharp catch behind the stumps to end a stubborn stand.
India made further inroads with Bumrah getting rid off Harry Brook with a sharp incoming delivery. At 172/4, England were back in a spot of bother. Root, now joined by Ben Stokes, proceeded to fight it out as he had done all day biding his time, and found another willing partner in his skipper. Under pressure for poor returns with the bat in the lead-up to the Test, Ben Stokes too got stuck in after a couple of flashy shots early on. Their fifty-run partnership took hundred balls but it also ensured that it kept India at bay.
By the end of the day Root had raced through the nineties and went up to one short of a ton in the final over of the day but was left to wait for the milestone
Day 2 : Steady KL Rahul guides India in response to England’s 387 after Jasprit Bumrah’s fifer
At the start of day’s play, Root scored his 37th Test ton before Bumrah tore through the English batting order with the wickets of Ben Stokes, Root, and Woakes within two of his overs. Smith was dropped off a regulation chance by Rahul in the slips, and the wicketkeeper-batter made the most of his reprieve. A surprising ball change by India, which was moving around, after just 10.4 overs played into England’s hands as well.
Smith and Carse had the runs flowing quickly and barely offered a chance to India, having battled through a testing period of play. The ‘keeper-batter played a fluent extra-cover drive before bringing up his 50 with a single on the stroke of Lunch. Smith departed early after Lunch, courtesy Mohammed Siraj inducing an edge to the ‘keeper which ended the 84-run stand.
Bumrah picked up his fifth of the innings by castling Archer – his first five-fer at Lord’s. With one wicket to go, Carse was dropped twice in an over to Siraj’s dismay. It was sandwiched by a six down the ground as the all-rounder brought up his 50. But, the bowler finally had his way as a yorker bowled Carse to end the innings at 387.
Yashasvi Jaiswal began the Indian innings with three boundaries in the first over of the Indian response. But his stay at the crease was short-lived as Archer got one to angle away from the left-hander, which Jaiswal prodded at but ended up poking it to Harry Brook in the slip-cauldron. Thereafter, Rahul carried out the repair job even as England had their nose ahead in the contest.
Rahul was the steady force in India’s reply, guiding them through choppy waters. With Karun Nair, he put on 61 to start the recovery after the early dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal. Nair creamed Carse to the boundary fence after using the recourse of DRS to overturn a caught-behind decision. Nair was good, showing the straight bat picking up the ones and twos at ease while Rahul drove through the extra-cover region to bring up the 50-run stand.
But, Nair (40) failed to convert yet another good start. Ben Stokes clipped the shoulder of his bat as Root pulled off a stunning catch at first slip to break the record of the most number of outfield catches in Test history. England turned to Jofra Archer immediately once Gill came in to bat the Indian captain was quite tentative early on, against the extra pace. Rahul continued to play the ball late, under his eyes and picked up ones and twos behind the wicket.
Day 3 : All square at Lord’s after KL Rahul’s ton and England’s late burst
While the wicket had little for the bowlers, Rahul and Pant showed immaculate discipline in the first 30 minutes to respect the good balls before the runs began to flow for India. After an expensive opening over, Jofra Archer consistently hit speeds of 140+ kmph to keep the batters in check as the visitors endured a 31-ball period where no runs came off the bat.
Rahul broke the shackles and raced into the 70s with a flurry of boundaries with first-change bowler Brydon Carse copping the blow. The two leg-side freebies clipped to the deep square leg fence by Rahul, and the short-and-wide delivery in-between was steered through the gap between gully and point with perfection to complete a hat-trick of fours. Rahul then brought up India’s 200 on the other side of an extended drinks break that saw a second ball-change of the session in the space of 11 overs.
Even for a greatly restrained knock, Pant brought up his fifty in classic Pant style when he hooked a short one from Ben Stokes flat over long-leg ropes, overtaking Viv Richards’ record of most sixes (34) against England in Tests with that. This was his eighth fifty in England, equalling with MS Dhoni for the highest number of half-century knocks by a visiting ‘keeper in the UK.
Rishabh Pant amped up the scoring with the introduction of spin into the attack, welcoming Shoaib Bashir with a six straight over his head. Stokes continued to pepper Pant with short balls which did cause some discomfort to the Indian’s injured left hand. However, the southpaw kept putting them away in his own innovative methods, before the English skipper found a way past him.
It took an inspired piece of fielding effort from Stokes, to go with the risk of an unnecessary run at the stroke of Lunch, that produced a wicket for the hosts. Eager to get on strike, Rahul – batting on 98 – tried to pinch a risky single after Pant defended a Bashir delivery to the off-side. Ben Stokes sensed the batter’s hesitation and ran in from covers to nail the direct hit at the non-striker’s end, bringing curtains on Pant’s fighting knock at 74.
On the other side of the break, India were dealt another huge blow. After an immensely disciplined knock, a lapse in concentration cost Rahul his wicket soon after his second Test hundred at Lord’s. Bashir lured him in with a flighted delivery, inducing a nick from the centurion to first slip where Harry Brook completed a low catch.
Sixty four runs and plenty of drama ensued thereon in the remainder of the session. Nitish Reddy survived as many as three run out scares in a chancy knock of 30, but built a strong partnership of 72 with Jadeja to chip away at England’s lead in a slow-moving yet action-packed period until Tea. The two new batters had a few nervy moments to overcome.
While Archer was convinced in his LBW appeal, and Reddy distracted by it, Jadeja tried to sneak in a single. Running towards the danger end, Reddy was nowhere in the frame when Ollie Pope, from midwicket, sent in an aimless throw with to the striker’s end no one backing up to collect it, thereby giving the Indian a lifeline. Reddy survived a second scare even before he could open his account.
The allrounder set out for a single and was almost halfway down the wicket before turning back as Jadeja didn’t seem invested. Had Pope again taken a moment to take a proper aim, Reddy would have been on his way for a 12-ball duck.
Against odds, the pair kept fighting. Archer cranked up his speeds to hit 150 kmph in the short spells, Brydon Carse challenged both the edges, Bashir injured his bowling hand attempting a low return catch and England even went back to the short-ball tactic with the new ball, but the sixth-wicket pair saw through all of that to take India past the 300-run mark.
Reddy got lucky a third successive time in yet another mix-up with Jadeja. This time, both the batters were mid pitch but Ben Duckett didn’t collect the ball cleanly to take a direct hit, allowing Reddy to get back in time.
Reddy’s luck finally ran out in moments into the final session when Stokes got a short ball to surprise the Indian allrounder. Reddy tentatively poked at it, and sent a faint edge behind to the ‘keeper to fall on 30. There were a fewy nervy moments for new-bat Washington Sundar early on, but Jadeja carried on undeterred and raised his third successive half-century of the series.
With Bashir still off the field, Root got to roll his arm more frequently. Occasionally he erred in his line or length, and Jadeja maximized it to add more boundary hits to his tally, even lofting him over mid-off for a maximum once. Washington too, like Jadeja, picked the part-time spinner to target while respecting the good balls from Stokes who kept a tight leash in an extended seven-over spell.
The fifty of the partnership came after drinks, and England managed to breakthrough just before their lead slid to single-digits. After a brilliant hand of 72, Jadeja was strangled down the leg-side by Woakes, and Jamie Smith pulled off a sharp low catch. Akash Deep survived two LBW shouts in his first-three deliveries with DRS coming to his rescue – the ball-tracking showing the trajectory to be missing stumps on both occasions to add to Woakes, and England’s, frustration.
Akash smashed a six off Archer before eventually falling to Carse courtesy a stunner from Brook at second slip. Woakes had his third of the innings in Jasprit Bumrah who nicked behind when the scores were levelled, and three balls later, Archer got rid of Washington on 23 to ensure India got no lead.
Time-wasting allegations were levied against the England openers for trying to ensure only one over was possible in the five minutes of extra time remaining in the day after the changeover. Amidst the drama and the boos, Zak Crawley picked up a brace off Bumrah to give England the slender lead before stumps were finally drawn on a drama-filled day in London.
KL Rahul’s second century of the series, aided by Rishabh Pant (74) and Ravindra Jadeja’s (72) supporting acts, saw India draw level with England’s first innings score of 387 in the closing minutes of play on Day 3 of the Lord’s Test. India’s overnight batters stretched their partnership to 141 to keep England at bay for nearly all morning before falling on either side of the Lunch break. Jadeja then stitched two crucial half-century stands to push India close but the English pacers packed up the tail cheaply to prevent a lead.
Day 4 : Lord’s Test poised equally heading into Day 5 post heroics from Washington Sundar and England
The second over that India were denied late on Day 3 finally began with Siraj conceding four byes, followed by a crisp drive for three from Ben Duckett. Siraj soon beat Zak Crawley’s outside edge, while the right-hander took a painful blow on the knuckles from a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that reared up and nearly resulted in a caught and bowled.
India burnt a review after Siraj convinced Shubman Gill to go upstairs for an LBW appeal against Crawley, only for replays to confirm it was sliding down leg. Crawley lived dangerously, slicing Bumrah wide of gully for four and looking increasingly uneasy against the uneven bounce from the Nursery End. Duckett, in contrast, looked assured – even scooping Siraj for a boundary – but fell soon after, mistiming a pull as Siraj celebrated in his face. Pope was struck on the glove by another rising ball from Bumrah and edged one over the slips for four.
Bumrah and Siraj kept up the pressure, and the latter got one to nip back in and trap Pope in front, with India successfully reviewing. Nitish Reddy, introduced in place of Bumrah, was pulled for four by Crawley but bounced back in his next over to have him caught at gully, where Jaiswal took his first catch of the series.
Root and Harry Brook then steadied the innings, handling Nitish and Akash without much fuss. Root played a classy square drive, while Brook hit a couple of scoops and launched Akash for a six down the ground. He also put away Reddy for four before Akash, having received treatment for his back, came back to have Brook bowled for 23, ending a 37-run stand. Bumrah returned for a short burst late in the session but Root and Stokes saw him off, taking England to Lunch at 98 for 4.
The second session started with drama as Akash found Root’s edge off the first ball, only for Dhruv Jurel to spill the catch – and the bowler had also overstepped. Akash beat Stokes a couple of times before the England captain hit his first four with a cut off Siraj.
Root rotated strike effectively, and the pair saw off the seamers, with Akash leaving the field holding his hip. Bumrah and Siraj continued to test both batters and Stokes nearly handed a catch to backward point off Bumrah, while Root had some trouble with incoming deliveries from Siraj. Despite the pressure, the pair pushed their stand past fifty before the drinks break.
Siraj continued for an over after the break and was unlucky not to trap Root leg-before, with the umpire’s call saving the batter who shuffled too far across. Washington came on from the Nursery end and found some spin while Jadeja was brought back from the Pavilion end.
The spinners kept it tight and eventually got the reward when Root was bowled trying to sweep Washington. The offspinner then castled Smith, who tried to play a quicker delivery from the backfoot and was bowled. Stokes and Woakes saw England to Tea at 174 for 6, with only 77 runs scored in 27 overs during the session.
Washington started off the final session with Bumrah coming on from the other end. The Indian captain missed an opportunity to run his England counterpart out at the non-striker’s end. But it wasn’t a big miss as Stokes, after sweeping Sundar for a four, was bowled for 33 attempting a similar shot.
Bumrah then produced a pinpoint yorker to castle Carse, claiming his first wicket of the innings. India then lost their second review on a caught-behind appeal against Jofra Archer in the same over. Bumrah appeared to be struggling with his calf, but showed no signs of discomfort when he ran in and bowled Chris Woakes. The injured Shoaib Bashir walked out to bat and along with Archer, kept India at bay for a while before getting bowled by Washington.
Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer didn’t make life easy for the Indian openers on a pitch offering inconsistent bounce. Woakes set the tone in the opening over by troubling Yashasvi Jaiswal, who fell for a duck while attempting to pull an Archer delivery that climbed sharply. Rahul glanced Archer for an early boundary but was tested repeatedly, even offering a return catch that Woakes couldn’t hold on to.
Despite the pressure, Rahul capitalised on scoring opportunities, punching and driving Woakes for a couple of fours and guiding another Archer delivery to the boundary. Karun Nair also picked up a few runs off Archer, including a cover drive for a four, as the second-wicket pair steadied India after a frenetic start to their chase.
Ben Stokes brought himself on as first change and Rahul played with soft hands past slips for another boundary, although there was one in the same over that took off and nearly clipped the edge of Rahul’s bat. Carse was getting the ball to swing away and after Nair played and missed outside off, he decided to shoulder arms to a delivery that came in and was out LBW for 15. Shubman Gill had a jittery start, missing a couple of Carse deliveries while attempting to drive before getting off the mark with a cover drive for a couple.
In Carse’s next over, Gill got a caught-behind decision overturned with the use of DRS and then put away a full toss for a four. But he also cost India a review soon after as he fell for 6, trapped in front by a Carse delivery that nipped back in. Umpire’s call saved nightwatchman Akash Deep from getting out leg-before to Carse and adding to the drama, the batter sought help from the physio to get some strapping. The engrossing day’s play ended with Stokes cleaning up Akash as England bounced back strongly into the game after folding under 200.
Washington Sundar’s four-wicket haul, well-supported by the pacers, helped India bowl England out for 192 early in the final session on Day 4 of the Lord’s Test. Introduced only in the second half of the afternoon session, the offspinner struck key blows as he finished with career-best overseas figures of 4 for 22. India, however, suffered early setbacks in their chase of 193, with Brydon Carse leading the charge, as the visitors went into Stumps at 58 for 4 with KL Rahul unbeaten on 33.
Day 5 : England led by Ben Stokes heroics wins nail-biter at Lord’s as Jadeja’s 61* goes in vain
In reality, the morning collapse was an extension of England’s remarkable comeback that Brydon Carse kickstarted late on Day 4. Despite losing 3 for 17 in the final moments of play yesterday – including their in-form captain and the nightwatch – India resumed from 58 for 4 in the chase where they required 135 more. Jofra Archer and Stokes, however, flipped the game on its head in their extended morning spells.
India woke up in London looking for 135 runs. Instead, they ran into 21.5 overs of hell in the morning session. They had dished it out four years ago. England felt compelled to return the favour. And they didn’t need to look as far back as the 2021 game to rouse themselves. There’s been plenty of needle over the past three days, starting with Shubman Gill’s irate response to their delay tactics and peaking with Siraj’s send-off to Ben Duckett.
After being hit to the fence twice by Rishabh Pant, Archer sent the Indian’s off-stump cartwheeling and followed it with a send-off. Ben Stokes then trapped KL Rahul in front with a nip-backer. Given not-out on field, Stokes took the appeal upstairs and was validated when ball-tracking returned three reds.
Even the totally chill Jofra Archer couldn’t help but get in Rishabh Pant’s face after knocking back his off stump. It was the third over of the day. He had just been smashed back down the ground, one-handed, and it rubbed him just enough the wrong way that he began to pump his legs harder as he ran in. That extra effort meant the ball bit into the pitch that little bit extra and breezed past the outside edge to make friends with off stump, which couldn’t help but do cartwheels.
Archer usually celebrates the wickets that mean something to him by running off into the distance. The one he took in his first over of this, his first Test in four years, would have had him leaping into the crowd if not for Bashir’s intervention. Here, he was starting to do so but quickly changed direction and ran up towards the retreating batter to fire off a few words.
Ben Stokes had demanded this. He wanted noise. He wanted belief. He wanted energy. He wanted India to feel trapped behind enemy lines. “Bang, bang,” he’d said just a few minutes before the Pant dismissal and turned it into prophecy when he got rid of KL Rahul 18 balls later.
He was on the floor appealing for lbw, every bit of him straining to convince umpire Sharfuddoula to lift the finger. He didn’t. Immediately, he poured all of himself into figuring out a reason to review. Really there was only one thing he needed to know. Was height an issue? No, said Joe Root from the slips. He’d seen Rahul was well back in his crease.
The review confirmed Ben Stokes’ instincts. The ball was good. The movement down the slope was devilish. The impact was pad first. And HawkEye revealed three reds. Stokes pumped his fists. Many of the 24,281 people at the ground roared with him. Ten of them were right there beside him. His team-mates, who have seen him do impossible things and who believe they can do similar just because he says they can. That was the picture of this Test match. Ben Stokes at the centre surrounded by the rest of England.
In the very next over, Archer pulled off a low one-handed stunner in his follow-through to send back Washington Sundar off his own bowling before the all-rounder could even get off the mark. The collapse of 3 for 11 in the space of four overs left India tottering at 82 for 7.
Even as India went boundary-less for an 80-ball spell since Pant’s couple, there was no shortage of fireworks. The fielders inside the ring kept constantly chirping to induce a mistake from the batters, particularly Reddy. Ball-watching while running for two, Jadeja ran into Carse and the heated exchange of words between the two was doused by Stokes just as it appeared to turn ugly.
Reddy largely impressed with his solid defence to frustrate England for nearly an hour but Woakes struck at the stroke of Lunch to put his team in the driver’s seat. The all-rounder nicked off on 13 to leave India at 112 for 8, still needing 81 more while England’s chances at gaining that series lead looked far more realistic. Fending with the tail, Jadeja decided to test England’s patience though.
Even with their team in dire situation, the Indian supporters gathered at the Lord’s made their presence felt by cheering every single Jadeja fetched or every time Bumrah came forward in defence.
They erupted in joy when Bumrah, after facing nine dots, opened his account for the first time in the series by confidently pulling Archer over mid-wicket for four. When the ball-tracking showed impact outside off as Jadeja challenged the LBW off Woakes, a round of boos followed. He then gave Woakes the charge the next ball and hacked it over mid-wicket for maximum damage, again inviting loud cheers.
Jadeja went out of his way, refusing easy single opportunities, to shield Bumrah from strike while the Indian spearhead himself remained resolute in defence. The next run off Bumrah’s bat came only 41 deliveries later as he played the ideal second fiddle to the all-rounder. Stokes kept going short in trying to bounce him out, and Bumrah did have a couple of misses. Eventually, it was a short ball from the English skipper that lured him into a pull and brought curtains on his valiant 54-ball fight when Bumrah miscued on five.
With minutes to go for Tea, the session was extended but Mohammed Siraj came out with similar intent – to keep England at bay. To that effect, he copped blows to his hand, celebrated Jadeja’s fifty for him, and nearly saw through the spells of Carse and Stokes before finally opening his account in 19 deliveries. Jadeja, who raised his fourth successive fifty of the series, got to the landmark with a risky four off Stokes but held on to the trademark sword celebration for later.
That opportunity never came, though. England began the final session with spin, and it was Bashir eventually – with an injured finger – to get them the final wicket they were desperate for. A distraught Siraj stood there in disbelief – bowled on 4 off 30 – as England wrapped up a 22-run victory five overs into the final session of an enthralling Test.
Ravindra Jadeja (61*) was the architect of India’s valiant lower-order resistance that lasted for over a session but England marched to a fighting 2-1 series lead with a narrow 22-run victory over India at Lord’s.
After a mini collapse of 3 for 11 to start off the fifth morning, Jadeja put on two fighting partnerships – worth 30 with Nitish Reddy and 35 with Jasprit Bumrah – to keep India hanging by the thread until the final session. However, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes found a way past those stubborn stands at the stroke of Lunch and Tea respectively to put England on the brink of successfully defending 192.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Shubman Gill the Losing Indian skipper said :  Extremely proud. Five days of hard-fought cricket and it comes down to the last session, last wicket and tremendously proud of the effort. I was pretty confident (about the chase). With plenty of batting left I was pretty confident, but the way England kept attacking, we wanted to have maybe a couple of 50-run partnerships in our top-order, we weren’t able to do that and they played better than us.
There is always hope as long as there is a batsman batting, there is always some hope, because the target wasn’t massive and one 50-60 run partnership we knew we would be back in. He (Jadeja) is very experienced, and didn’t want to give him any message. I think he was batting really well with the tail and I just wanted him and the tail-enders to bat as long as possible.
At one point, we thought if we get a lead of 80-100 that might be crucial for us, because we knew the fifth day on this wicket might not be that easy to chase 150-200, so we were thinking if we can get a lead of 80 runs we would be in a good position. I think the last one hour (yesterday), we could have applied ourselves a bit better, especially the last 2 wickets that fell.
And even this morning, the way they came out with the plans, we were hoping for one 50-run partnership and if we had gotten one 50-run partnership in the top order, then things would have been easier for us. Sometimes, the series scorecard doesn’t really reflect how well you have played.
I think we played some really good cricket and I think it is going to be an even exciting series from hereon. You will get to know about it soon (when asked if Bumrah would play in the next Test).
Ben Stokes the winning England skipper and Player of the Match for his all round performance said : Â It was (extraordinary finish). It was actually part of the reason I went with Jof and myself this morning, one of those feelings, what is it 6 years now to the day (2019 WC win).. Jof played a major role in that, just had one of those feelings he would do something special and he cracked the game open with 2 wickets.
It wasn’t an easy call, there was a bit of discussion in the dressing room. Brydon (Carse) had an amazing spell last night, he was charging in and had great rhythm but it was a gut feeling, Jof’s first match back in the Test team and sometimes your gut works. It is awesome to have him back. When he turns it on and the speeds come up on the screen, the feeling in the game changes.
What an amazing job to get through the overs, first time out, tough week but he got some crucial wickets. I thought I had taken myself to some pretty dark places before.. but today bowling to win a Test match for your country.. If that doesn’t get you going then I don’t know what does. Bashir, broken hand, going out there and taking responsibility with the bat, then coming out and picking up the last wicket, absolute warrior to do that for the team.
What today was and what was on the line, yesterday was a bit different as there was more cricket to be played, I pulled myself out there, to be honest I was cooked yesterday as well, but the game was on the line and nothing was stopping me. I am an allrounder, I get four opportunities to influence the game, one of the great things of being an all rounder is if one thing doesn’t quite click then you have the other.
I had bowled an important spell, I was pretty pumped up, very important position at extra cover, it was one of those things, I saw Rishabh stutter in my peripheral, natural instincts took over and it is a great feeling when you let go of the ball and know that is going towards the stumps.
Big part of the game, Rishabh played really well, we all know how dangerous he can be and that wicket this morning was a big one and Jofra was the man to do it. It was always going to be the case, two very good teams going at it, we went toe to toe in this game, not going to lie but cannot wait to get on the bed for four days and then be ready to go to Manchester.
England clinch a thriller at Lord’s on the final day and it’s their offspinner, who spent most of his time on the bench after being hit on his little finger, who lands the final blow. Siraj appears heartbroken and it’s nice to see a couple of England players walk up to him and lift him up. They’ve given it their all in the heat of the battle, players from both sides, and they’ve put on a contest worth remembering. In the end of it all, India fall short by a mere 22 runs.
In a game of such fine margins, the following two events were perhaps what played a big role in deciding the outcome. First the ball change on the second morning when India were breathing fire with the second new ball. There was seam and swing, and Bumrah had produced a three-wicket burst to reduce England from 260/4 to 271/7. But the ball was changed and India were furious after being handed one that was apparently not like for like. It moved around lesser and the England lower-order, led by Brydon Carse prospered, taking them to 387.
The second game-changing event, and probably the most decisive one, came when India seemed to be in control with the bat in the first innings. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant had thwarted everything England threw at them with the old ball and had the opposition there for the taking after stitching together a 141-run stand for the fourth wicket.
But with Rahul’s hundred approaching and in the eagerness to get to that milestone before the lunch break, they went for a single that was too risky, particularly against someone like Ben Stokes. And talking of the England captain, what a game he had. Never mind that match-defining run out, he ran in tirelessly with the ball, over after over, in typical Stokes fashion. Was hard to get the ball out of his hand and his rhythm was superb too.
It was a final day that started with a bang as England picked up three quick wickets and it seemed like they had blown away the Indian challenge before the spectators could settle in their seats.
But as he did in the first innings, Ravindra Jadeja stood his ground defiantly. He was helped by the ball getting older and posing less of a challenge, and also by the lower-order who were up for the fight. From 112/8, the last two wickets added 58 and England were made to sweat. However, it was too much to do for the likes of Bumrah and Siraj with England’s persistence finally getting them over the line.
As soon as Siraj turns back to see the sight of shambles (read: leg stump dislodged), he stays rooted to the crease and goes down in installments. He crouches and stares at the ground not knowing what to do, perhaps reminding himself of all the hardwork done prior to this and of course, the resilience of Jadeja at the other end. Bashir, though, took off instantly and his mates were just trying to catch hold of him. Woakes standing in at cover stopped Bashir in his tracks to give him a warm hug.
Carse and Archer then walk up to Bashir to congratulate him. And on the other end, Brook is the first of the English players to walk up to Siraj and console him. Crawley and Root aren’t too far behind either. Root holds Siraj very close to his chest and pats him on the back. He (Siraj) then sinks really low and punches the face of the bat (with his gloves) in disgust.
Ouch! Almost all of the England players walk up to Jadeja to applaud his knock. Stokes gave Jadeja a very warm hug before tapping him on the helmet. After all the onfield battles, this is such a heart-warming sign and one that elevates the spirit of cricket by many levels.
A Lord’s pitch which flattened the run-rates and at times the bowlers too. But wasn’t it compelling viewing all the way through. India will be heartbroken, having done so much good work only to come out on the losing side for the second time in the series. They now trail 1-2 going into Manchester with Shubman Gill non-committal about Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the fourth Test.
England, on the other hand, deserves so much credit for finding ways to get out of bad situations. Their bowlers were brilliant in making use of the up-and-down nature of the surface led by Carse yesterday and Archer this morning. There’s going to be a fairly long break before the next Test. But the wait is probably going to be worth it given how these contests are turning out.
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