India's Mohammed Siraj reacts after being hit by a bouncer bowled by England's Jofra Archer
Credit: Reuters Photo
London: A slow-burning contest that spectacularly sprang to life towards the end of the Moving Day reached a thrilling conclusion with India fighting tooth and nail until their last breath before going down to a determined England in a game for the ages in the third Test here on Monday.
Resuming the final day of an engrossingly fought third Test at Lord’s on 58/4 and needing another 135 runs to take a 2-1 lead, India’s hopes rested largely on the duo of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. They were the last remaining specialist batting pair and two of the most experienced players in the largely young transitional India team. England skipper Ben Stokes (3/48) and the Jofra Archer (3/55), playing his first Test in four years and picked for the crunch game purely on reputation rather than readiness for the rigours of five-day cricket, however, put England on course for a massive win after leaving India reeling at 82/7.
India, though, refused to throw in the towel and staged an incredible fightback with veteran Ravindra Jadeja (61 n.o., 181b) at the forefront of it with three nail-biting partnerships that had everyone at the ‘Home of Cricket’ on the edge of their seats. Jadeja, easily the Indian team’s Most Valuable Player over the last decade, first forged a 30-run stand for the eighth wicket with Nitish Kumar Reddy that was cut short just before lunch. At that stage, it looked dead and buried for India with another 81 runs needed and just two wickets in hand.
One of them was Jasprit Bumrah, who had scored four successive ducks. England smelt blood and came charging in the post-lunch session, but Bumrah soaked it all superbly to defy the hosts with sheer grit and gumption. He dead-batted everything England threw at him, and with every defensive shot, he drew huge cheers from the massive Indian gathering, and confidence in Jadeja also started to grow. But this Test, in fact, series, has been such that every time a team seemingly has gained the momentum, things take a drastic turn. Bumrah, having batted for 104 minutes, went for a glory shot out of nowhere off Stokes and was caught at mid-on.
Even then, with blood almost oozing out, India didn’t give up, with Mohammed Siraj slugging it out with Jadeja. Siraj even took a blow to his shoulder but soldiered on. It looked like he and Jadeja might pull off the impossible, but Shoaib Bashir dismissed him, the ball ricocheting off his bat onto the stumps as England wheeled away in celebrations. Siraj and Jadeja sunk in despair as the Indian innings folded up at 170, suffering a 22-run loss.
Earlier, Archer, hailed by Stokes as a genius who could change games with his pace and hostility, did exactly what the skipper proclaimed on the eve of the contest. Totally amped up following the war of words the two sides had been exchanging from late Saturday evening, the 30-year-old bowled with fire, passion, and deadly accuracy. The right-armer, starting the attack along with Stokes, first dismissed Pant in his second over of the day with an absolute peach, the ball just straightening a shade after pitching, that left wicketkeeper completely befuddled.
Stokes, easily the best all-rounder across formats in the world right now, produced a performance that will further burnish his credentials. Returning to full-fledged bowling after recovering from a hamstring surgery just before the series, the 34-year-old bent his back and produced a workhorse performance that’s deserving enough to be inscribed on the coveted Honours Board here. In the opening spell, he hurled down 9.2 overs and bagged the key wicket of KL Rahul, who scored a century in the first innings, and then dished out 10 overs just before tea.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (I Innings): 387
INDIA (I Innings): 387
ENGLAND (II Innings): 192
INDIA (II Innings, O/n: 58/4):
Jaiswal c Smith b Archer 0
(7b)
Rahul lbw Stokes 39
(58b, 6x4)
Nair lbw Carse 14
(33b, 1x4)
Gill lbw Carse 6
(9b, 1x4)
Akash b Stokes 1
(11b)
Pant b Archer 9
(12b, 2x4)
Jadeja (not out) 61
(181b, 4x4, 1x6)
Sundar c&b Archer 0
(4b)
Nitish c Smith b Woakes 13
(53b, 1x4)
Bumrah c sub b Stokes 5
(54b, 1x4)
Siraj b Bashir 4
(30b)
Extras (LB-9, NB-3, W-6) 18
TOTAL (all out, 74.5 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Jaiswal), 2-41 (Nair), 3-53 (Gill), 4-58 (Akash), 5-71 (Pant), 6-81 (Rahul), 7-82 (Sundar), 8-112 (Nitish), 9-147 (Bumrah).
Bowling: Woakes 12-5-21-1, Archer 16-1-55-3 (W-1), Stokes 24-4-48-3 (NB-2), Carse 16-2-30-2 (W-1, NB-1), Root 1-0-1-0, Bashir 5.5-1-6-1.
Result: England won by 22 runs.
Series: England lead 5-match Test series 2-1.
PoM: Ben Stokes
Fourth Test: July 23-27 (Manchester).