Team India on Monday (August 16) recorded an emphatic 151-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord’s to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The visitors bundled out England within the two sessions on the final day, having set a target of 272 in the fourth innings.
On Day 5, the tourists slipped to 209/8 in the first hour of the morning session. India's lead was only 182 at that point and the hosts were looking in a commanding position.
However, pacers Mohammad Shami (56*) and Jasprit Bumrah (34*) changed the course of the game with their unbeaten 89-run stand for the ninth wicket as India declared their second innings on 298/8.
Reflecting on the historic win, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar lauded contribution of Indian tailenders.
“See in both Test matches, our tailenders have batted well. In the first Test match, Jadeja was there and if you remember, I had posted a tweet saying Bumrah has played the shot of his life when he pulled Sam Curran over square leg for a six. Brilliant shot that was,” Tendulkar said in a video he recorded, as reported by Times of India.
“But at Lord’s, that partnership, lower order added around 100 plus runs, that changed the game. On the fourth evening, who would have thought that we are going to retrieve 270 and then put the pressure back on the English team and close the game so emphatically.”
England had to bat less than two sessions to save the Test match but they failed to do so as India’s pace-quartet demolished their batting line-up.
While Mohammed Siraj (4-32) and Bumrah (3-33) did the bulk of the damage with the ball, Ishant Sharma (2-13) and Shami (1-13) chipped in with three scalps between them.
“I thought it was magnificent to watch that aggression, spring in their legs was something, fast bowlers charging in, eye to eye contact, and hostility. It was not just josh (passion), it was hosh (clarity of thought) also. So that combination worked. You saw what Bumrah did. Bumrah came round the wicket to Ollie Robinson, bowled a couple of bouncers and that top class slower ball where Robinson had no clue what had happened to him. Those kinds of moments where you have clearly outsmarted your opposition, they stay with you for a long long time. But those batting partnerships brought us back in the match,” Tendulkar said.
Skipper Kohli declared India’s second innings after a few overs in the post-lunch session and Tendulkar said he would have preferred to bowl at the English openers before the lunch break.
“Ya, possibly yes. If I was there, I would have got them in maybe for a couple of overs before lunch, so the openers would have to go up and down, it’s quite a walk up to the dressing room, so the openers have to go up, get ready quickly, rush down and play two overs and then again go and come back. So that kind of mindset, no opener likes to do that. I would have possibly done that and in case there was a partnership, one would have got maybe those three-four extra overs,” the iconic cricketer stated.
“But Virat had different plans. On a lighter note, you saw what happened to both openers, right? Uppar neeche jaake thoda saans chadd gaya tha, dono zero pe out huye. (The going up and down seems to have got to the openers, they must have been panting somewhat and both were dismissed for zero),” he further remarked.
Team India’s last Test series victory on English soil came in 2007 and Sachin Tendulkar was part of it.
When asked what message he would like to give to the current Indian team, Tendulkar said, “To win matches you need good partnerships while batting, and to get 20 wickets you also need to bowl well in partnerships. I know the opposition is going to come back, and they’ll try and come back hard but as long as we stick to our brand of cricket, what we are out there to achieve, it really doesn’t matter what they plan. I have thoroughly enjoyed the brand of cricket that you have played. Kehte hain na ki josh achcha tha magar josh ke saath hosh hota hai toh results aur bhi achche lagte hain (They say that the passion was good, but along with the passion, if there's clarity of thought then the results are usually even better). I am enjoying the way you are playing, all the very best.”
