Lording over The Lord's

It was anti-climax at the end but then would there have been a better way for it to end? Jadeja bowls to Anderson, who is desperate to get to the other end, takes off for a single that didn’t exist. Jadeja fields and hits the wicket directly while Anderson is still short of the crease. India win! Their first test victory at Lord’s in 28 years. Something that nobody, at least from India, envisaged when they saw the pitch when the test match was to start.

The test match started on the wrong foot with allegations and counter-allegations between the two teams on the spat between Anderson & Jadeja with the latter accusing the former of physically attacking him during the first test. To add on fuel to the fire, the wicket that was prepared for the match was as green as it could be. It was hard to distinguish the ground and the pitch. It got worse for India at the toss with Dhoni losing it and being asked to bat on this wicket.

Cook seems to have stuck gold by sending India to back with 6 wickets down for hardly 125 on the board. It seemed bad when Binny walked back with the score at still less than 150. That is when things started to turn around for India just like in the 1^st Test with the lower order taking the fight to the opposition. The last 3 wickets added another 150 runs before they were all out. One batsman who stood out and held together the innings for India was Rahane and rightfully deserved to have his name on the honors board in the Lord’s board for a fantastic century. The bowlers backed up the batsmen well with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar standing out again with his second 5-for in as many tests. He bowled beautifully in perfect English conditions and made the ball talk. He pitched the ball up. He made the ball move away from the right hander and into the left hander. The batsmen were finding it difficult to handle it all. India were able to restrict England’s lead to only 24 runs. England themselves were able to get over 300 thanks largely to a well crafted century by Ballance and late attack by Plunkett.

The Indian openers started the 2^nd innings well and had the deficit erased before Dhawan lost his wicket cheaply (how many times has he done this in the recent past!). Pujara and Vijay steadied the ship and took the lead to nearly 100 runs before a lapse of concentration cost India Pujara’s wicket which caused a mini-collapse with India losing 3 wickets for 5 runs. More than ever, India needed its captain and monk to stay in the middle for a long time and take it to safety. They did that to some extent by taking India’s lead to over 175 before Dhoni fell and Binny too soon after. Just when Vijay seemed to be headed to his 2^nd century in 2 tests for India, he lost his wicket and India were reeling at 235 with the lead a little over 210. In came Bhuvi and along with Jadeja, turned the game on its head. Their partnership of 99 runs (with both making fifties) not only ensured that the lead was over 300 but also ensured that the bowlers had a lot of time to bowl England out. India were all out for 342 and a lead of 318.

England were set a target of 319 runs on a declining Lord’s wicket. The average 4^th innings score at Lord’s was 157. For England to win this one, they had to score more than double the average 4^th innings score. With their batting wobbling and India’s bowling doing better, it was a foregone conclusion that India were going to win. The question was when and how? As expected, Jadeja got India the first breakthrough with hardly 12 runs on the board for England. Cook and Ballance resisted for a while before the latter was caught behind. Cook continued doggedly and seemed to be getting back in form when against the run of play, he was back in the pavilion. England were reeling at 72 for 4. It all seemed a formality now for India when day 4 ended.

People were betting that India will close them out before lunch on day 5. But the pair in the middle had a completely different idea. They decided to make India earn this win. They defended the good balls, punished the bad balls. Kept the scoreboard ticking. The number of runs required for a win was less than 150 runs. Indians were beginning to worry. Will this be the turnaround that England was waiting for? Is the Indian team lacking the killer instinct to lose from a winning situation, yet again? The last over before lunch when it looked like it was completely England’s session, Ishant Sharma bowled a bouncer from nowhere and Moeen Ali was caught. All the hard work from Ali and Root meant for nothing. The Indians were back. Neither team took the session ended in a draw as the wicket fell at the stroke of lunch. That was the breakthrough that India needed. It was all over an hour after lunch with Ishant taking a seven for. When the last wicket fell, the Indians were all over the place. Nobody expected this team to draw a match, forget winning one. But this young team beat all odds to win and take the lead in this series. With 3 more games to go, I wonder what further twists and turns await us. Test matches are better story tellers than anyone else. Wouldn’t you agree?