Under the new management of captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, England have stamped their authority in Test cricket in the past one month, having won all their four Tests while chasing down targets of 250+ in the final innings.
While England whitewashed New Zealand in a three-Test series at home last month, they defeated India in the recently held Edgbaston Test.
The hosts were set a target of 378 by India in the fourth innings and they pulled it off without breaking a sweat on the back of sparkling centuries from Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*).
With this victory, the Three Lions didn’t only register their highest successful run chase in Tests but also level the five-match series 2-2.
Speaking on Tailenders Podcast, veteran England pacer James Anderson revealed that the plan was to finish the game before the second new ball, and even if they were to lose a wicket there were clear instructions for Stuart Broad to go after the Indian bowlers.
However, the tactics changed when England needed just 20 runs and now Broad was no longer the batter to be sent in next.
“Because there was a new ball coming up, they thought, ‘Let’s try and finish it before the new ball. So if we lose a wicket, we’ll send Broady in and he can literally just try and hit every ball for six’. Between 67 and 75 overs or something like that. So then the deeper we got – I think it was about 20 runs left – Broady was like, ‘Right, that’s me done, someone else can go in next’,” Anderson said.
James Anderson then revealed that captain Stokes came to him and asked to finish the game when they needed 20 runs.
“So then Stokesy comes up to me and said, ‘You’ve never hit the winning runs. So if we need four to win, and [Ravindra] Jadeja’s bowling for example, do you fancy going in and hitting the winning runs?’
"I just felt really uncomfortable with it. I thought it was a little bit too piss-takey. So I was like, ‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that’."
With Root and Bairstow wreaking havoc on the Indian bowling attack, no one else was needed to score those 20 runs.
"Stuart Broad had decided he wasn’t going in, so he took his pads off. Sam Billings didn’t have his pads on. I wouldn’t put my pads on. And Ben Stokes also didn’t put his pads on. So we had no one padded up for the last 20 runs of that game. That’s how relaxed everyone was," Anderson further said.
