Magical Lord’s

12^th August 2021, on a cloudy morning at the home of cricket , Virat Kohli the Indian captain lost the toss and Indians were put into bat by England. With Jimmy Anderson, the master in these conditions in full flow every pundit of the game thought the game would be the repeat of 2018 fixture between the two teams at the venue wherein Indian batting unit lost the plot and England won the game inside 3 days. But this time around, it wasn’t the case, this team had learned from the past, this team had rubbed off the attitude that its captain had instilled in them.

Rohit, who was playing as an opener in England for the first time and Rahul, who was making a comeback in to the test side after 3 years started slowly playing out each spell and then Rohit burst out at the English bowlers and they together added 126 runs and it was a big deal considering the recent stats that the openers often fail in English conditions and Rahul , who was at just 35 when Rohit got out, played the responsible role and made an scintillating 100 at the home of cricket and made his name written on the honor’s board. After Rahul fell at the start of day-2 India had a minor collapse and Indians were all out at 364. Still, it was very good score because India batted in toughest batting conditions of the match.

England, with the help of their captain Joe Root’s 180 not out scored 391 taking a 27 lead. India starts their second innings, and we collapse, as we most often do in an overseas test match. Then comes the dependable pair of Pujara and Rahane whose form was not that good and were criticized extremely and it was do or die for both. Pujara and Rahane added a century partnership and made sure India doesn’t stumble further, but at the end of the day 4 both lose their wickets. At the end of day 4, everyone thought either England wins, or it will be a draw, and no one expected an Indian comeback.

At the start of day-5, India’s lead was 154 runs and Rishabh Pant was at the crease, all eyes were on him to score 50 odd runs taking the lead to 200 so that India had a fighting chance, but he fell to Ollie Robinson early in the day and the lead was just 167 runs which was obviously not enough and there was India’s tail to follow who were not that greatly equipped with the bat. Burmah joined Shami after Pant’s wicket and slowly they started taking singles and doubles and made sure India’s lead get past 200 and once they were set, they were impossible to get out and India’s lead got to over 250 runs before lunch. Bumrah and Shami not only increased India’s lead they also made sure India can’t lose this game. The ovation they received at the end of lunch from the crowd and the Indian dressing was so incredible to see. The pair made sure from having no chance of winning the game to having a go at the opposition to win the test match at the home of cricket since 2014.

Everyone thought Kohli might declare the innings at lunch and have a go at England, but it wasn’t the case he made England bowl just 10 balls, this move turned out to be master stroke this meant English openers didn’t had the time to get in as they would have had if Kohli would have declared at lunch. And Indians came roaring out and Kohli was seen saying “They should feel like hell for the next 60 years”, and boy they did. England lost both their openers cheaply from the same duo of Bumrah and Shami who were high on confidence from their batting performance. When Joe Root was at the crease, it felt difficult for Indians to get to the win, but Bumrah picked up his wicket and Mohammed Siraj, who is the find of Indian cricket this year bowled his heart out to take 4 wickets and just 20 min before the end of day’s play Siraj took the wicket of James Anderson. And with this India won the match by 151 runs.

This win is magical, from not having a chance to win on day-4 to win by 151 runs is an incredible achievement, this was total team performance from mostly the same side who lost the test match last time inside 3 days. This win at Lord’s and the win at Gabba at the start of this year showed us this team never gives up, they put everything at stake when anything isn’t going according to the plan.