This England team is quite beatable. Remove enigmatic Ben Stokes from this lineup, and there you have a team reeling for answers with a soulless attitude. But what they put up on Day 5 of the Lord’s Test was truly incredible. Defending 193 in a classic, the English bowlers came out with the right intent and performed the task as it should have been performed. But again, the reason was Ben Stokes, who led from the front. Despite his history of injuries, he took the load of bowling the bulk of overs and invigorated the confidence in the unit.
India’s gritty chase undone by fine margins
But what about India? A few chances here and there, and the Shubman Gill-led outfit would’ve defied all odds. They were so close yet so far. A heart-wrenching loss. After the first-ininngs scores were tied, India needed another complete bowling performance to win the game. And indeed it was.
India took just 62.1 overs to bundle out the English outfit. The defining over was, however, the very first, when Gill and his troops showed they were here to answer back. No BS attitude, similar to that of their head coach and a former legend, who was undoubtedly India’s greatest Test captain ever.
Washington Sundar’s superb four-fer opened the gates for India as they needed to chase down 193 to script history at the Home of Cricket. Of course, the target was steep, considering the Lord’s surface was starting to offer more. The pitch was quite conducive to bowlers, perhaps the most this series saw.
Jadeja’s lone battle and the heartbreak at Lord’s
But unfortunately for India, this time the entire English bowling unit clicked. Jofra Archer, who was just rallying pace but was overpitching most of the time in the first innings, bowled one of the best deliveries of the match to Rishabh Pant. Ben Stokes bowled his heart out. Chris Woakes changed the momentum by edging Nitish Kumar Reddy just before lunch on Day 5. And of course, Brydon Carse, whose twin blows late on Day 4, put England in ascendancy.
Despite all this, India found their way to remain in the game. All thanks to Ravindra Jadeja. The showman once again stood up against all odds. Something he did at the ODI World Cup 2019 semi-final as well. But once again, he ended up on the losing side. Jadeja soaked in all the pressure. He had the dilemma of choosing between hitting risky shots or counting on his tail-end batters to negotiate a few balls every over. Kudos to Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj; the two pacers did their best, perhaps better than most top-order batters. But it wasn’t to be.
India’s fight shows depth, England remain vulnerable
While the loss seems a hard pill to swallow, it might be a necessary one as well. The Lord’s loss would now make India learn quite a few more things than they would’ve actually learnt had they won the clash. The mistakes of unwanted run-outs, giving unnecessary extras, and even lapses in concentration while fielding at slips. All these errors are less likely to be repeated. Especially from a team that is young and is here to make a statement. The captain has walked the talk so far and is ready to continue leading the march.
Going to Manchester, this wounded Indian outfit would be raring to go. According to Ravichandran Ashwin, it has been the bowling unit that is the reason behind India doing so well in the series. And the former Indian legend isn’t wrong as well. The gulf between the two sides’ bowling units has been a massive one so far. Now, England have lost their premier spinner as well.
While India, have won a match without having the services of Bumrah as well. Mohammed Siraj is finally bowling like a first-choice pacer, while Akash Deep has shown he can wreak havoc. We have someone like Arshdeep Singh on the bench as well, whose left-arm variety and ability to extract swing can be an X-factor. Then there’s Kuldeep Yadav—a masterful spinner, whose inclusion should be a no-brainer.
Also, what makes England vulnerable is their poor batting. Out of seven batters who have scored over 100 runs but have averaged less than 50 this series, five are from England. The two Indians are Karun Nair (21.83) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (38.83), who will join the party sooner rather than later.
It is not that India have made more mistakes than England thus far. However, as unfortunate as it may be, India’s mistakes have proved to be fatal. With every Test, every day, every session likely to put the series in jeopardy, expect a full-blown attack by the Indians on the hosts, who are, as I earlier said, very “beatable.”
Editor's Pick
Cricket
Will Gambhir try Rishabh Pant or Nitish Reddy in IND vs SA 3rd ODI with series on the line?
Top Stories
