At Trent Bridge in Nottingham, the Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli just missed the bus, England cricket team was saved from certain defeat, thanks to the rain god. But at Lord’s cricket ground in London, Indian playing XI got its prey to achieve one of its most memorable victories on foreign soil.
When India beat Pom’s team with a series victory of 3-1 margin on home soil, many cricket pundits, especially the veteran cricketers brushed it aside as victory achieved under rank turners and some Englishmen even criticised Indian pitches and they never accepted England cricket team’s defeat gracefully.
When India began their England tour James Anderson, the English pacer gave indication that Indian cricket team will be greeted on English soil with green top wickets. The Indian team accepted the challenge and maintained upper hand in the first Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham until the rain interrupted the entire fifth day’s play. This Indian team has got an uncanny knock of rising from ashes.
The Indian team defeated a full strength Australian team with 2-1 series victory when its senior players were not available because of injuries and personal reasons. When England got slender lead in its first innings at Lord’s and immediately got Indian top three wickets for a paltry 55 runs and the out of form batsmen Pujara and Rahane to follow, and with ample time remaining to polish off Indian middle and lower order batsmen, most of the people had a feeling that England can easily win this Test match. The partnership between Pujara and Rahane initially, and between Shami and Bumrah later on, took the match away from England and at that time the draw looked imminent with England needing to face 60 overs with under two sessions to force a draw. From survival on the fourth day of a Test match to revival on the fifth day, Indian cricketers’ performance was a remarkable achievement.
The Indian bowling led by Siraj, the bowling avatar of Pant, ran through England innings and achieved the most memorable victory with 151 runs margin. This victory proved that the series victory achieved in Australia was not a flash in the pan and it proved that the Indian team can perform well on any kind of pitches. Kohli, whose performance was under scanner for a string of below par scores considering standards set by him previously, encouraged his pace quartet throughout their bowling and showed great intent by playing fire with fire.
V. Nagendra Kumar is a sports analyst