KL Rahul had an amazing outing in the second Test between England and India at the Lord’s ground in which he was named the Player of the Match for his amazing 129 in the 1st innings. India defeated England by 151 runs, bowling them out for 120 in 51.5 odd overs.
The final day of the match saw a lot of heated arguments involving England’s Mark Wood, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, and James Anderson, who was verbally giving it to Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami who added 89* runs for the 9th wicket to help India set a 272-run target.
Bumrah had bounced Anderson in the first innings during one 13-ball over and Wood, Robinson did the same to Bumrah, hitting him on the helmet and grill, while Buttler and Root were needling the young India pacer with verbal jolts.
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However, their verbal warfare came to bite them back as Shami hit 56*, his highest Test score and Bumrah too made 34*. Then with the ball, Shami one wicket, while Bumrah returned with figures of 3/33. Mohammed Siraj shined with 4/32 and finished with an 8-wicket haul at Lord’s.
Talking about the verbal volleys, KL Rahul said: "It showed how badly both teams wanted to win. That's how Test cricket is played. We as a team are never shy to say a word or too. Someone comes after our player and the rest of the 10 guys get pumped as well. That's the kind of atmosphere and team bonding that we have. If you go after one of our guys that means you are going after the whole team.”
He, in fact, made it clear that all the four fast bowlers were ready to give England a taste of their own medicine.
"Bowlers were really keen to have a go and have a crack out there in the middle and give it their all in 60 overs. This is what people come to watch and it only speaks about how badly each team wants to win,” Rahul added.
He also lauded Bumrah-Shami for their important batting partnership, saying, “Partnership between Bumrah and Shami was so so good and after they put up a fight like that, bowlers were waiting to have a crack at them. We knew after lunch the declaration is going to come.”
"We knew each of them would have to bowl 10 or 12 overs. The pitch was behaving a bit up and down and an opportunity like this to win a Test match always doesn't come. We were all very keen and excited and to go out there and put out a performance like that was very special," said Rahul
While speaking on his own form, he said, “Last time, I was playing too many shots and I was thinking how I can score runs but this time I just wanted to enjoy batting and focus on role assigned. I didn't want to focus on personal goals. I am enjoying my batting more than forever. Now when bowers are in midst of a good spell, I am trusting my technique, my defense. This is giving me results.”
(PTI inputs)
