England go 2-1 up against India after Lord’s win
England emerged victorious in a five-day thriller at Lord’s. The hosts defeated India on the final day to take a 2-1 lead in the test series. England defended a target of 193 runs to deny India from winning a memorable test. It was a collective effort from the team that led to this epic win.
England chose to bat and came in with a new approach. They forgot about the baseball and decided to play test cricket like it is. Indian bowlers were up to the mark from ball 1. They gave no easy runs and restricted England to 387. Joe Root scored his eighth hundred at the ‘home of cricket.’ Bumrah took his 15th five-wicket haul to deny the hosts from scoring a huge total. Indian bowlers struggled to take wickets down the order. Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse were allowed to score half-centuries towards the end of the innings. This gave some momentum to the English bowlers.
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England is denied the lead
Shubman Gill’s side was chasing a high first innings total at a tricky ground. Yashasvi Jaiswal was sent back on a low total. KL Rahul continued his good form in this series. He managed to score his 10th test ton. Captain Gill failed to replicate his form from the last test. He struggled to score in the first innings. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja scored their fifties to tie the score for India. The visitors denied England from taking the lead in the second innings.
Sundar restricts English batters
Lord’s is a difficult ground to score runs on. Both teams played with patience in their first innings. The ground was not offering a lot of bounce and the batsman had to adjust to the slope as well. England batters struggled in the second innings. India bowled out the opposition on 192. Washington Sundar was the pick of the bowlers as he ended the innings with the figures of four for 22. Bumrah and Siraj chipped in with two wickets each. Root was once again the best batter for England. He scored 40 runs in the second innings.
Batters struggle but tail-enders fight for survival
India were chasing 193 in the fourth innings. They needed some good batting contributions from the top to chase this tricky total. Jaiswal failed to open his account and fell to Archer for the second time in the test match. Karun Nair was also dismissed at the end of day four. Once again, he failed to score big. Shubman Gill looked uncomfortable when he entered the field. He struggled to time the ball and eventually got trapped in front of the wicket. Akash Deep was sent as a night watchman, but he was removed at the end of the day’s play.
India were 58 for four at the start of day 5. Rishabh Pant struggled with a finger injury and which kept him out of keeping. His wicket fell on 71. KL Rahul and Sundar followed him to the dressing room. India were in a spot of bother. Jaddu and Reddy tried to build a partnership, but both were too defensive. Bumrah and Jaddu faced 132 runs for the 9th wicket partnership. Siraj came and tried to win the match for his team. He was unlucky to see his defensive shot spinning past his leg and hitting the wicket. India fell short by 22 runs.
