London: After nearly five days of absolutely gripping and absorbing Test cricket, England rallied around and survived an admirable fightback from a resilient Ravindra Jadeja to seal a stunning 22-run win over India at the Lord’s and take a 2-1 lead in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at the Lord’s here on Monday.
Resuming from 58/4, England’s fast bowlers were right on the money as India were eight down when lunch break came. But Jadeja refused to buckle in, hitting a gritty and magnificent 61 not out off 181 balls. Despite him and the lower-order giving it their all, India were so close yet so far to registering a miraculous victory by being bowled out for 170 in 74.5 overs.
For England, skipper Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer took three wickets each off bowling 24 and 16 overs respectively, while Brydon Carse had two scalps. Chris Woakes and Shoaib Bashir, bowling with a left finger injury, had one wicket each, as England found a way via sheer relentlessness and absolute patience to win an incredible Test match on the day they won the ODI World Cup at the Lord’s exactly six years ago. Both teams were level at 387 after the first innings, while England were all out for 192 in their second innings.
Amidst tension amongst every human being in the stadium, the final session started with Jadeja and Siraj scampering for singles, amidst defending solidly to take India closer to victory.
But on the fifth ball of the 75th over, Bashir spun back one which hit Siraj’s bat, and rolled back onto the stumps to dislodge the leg-stump bail, sparking jubilant scenes for England and agony in the Indian camp.
Brief scores:
England 387 and 192 beat India 387 and 170 all out in 74.5 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 61 not out, KL Rahul 39; Ben Stokes 3-48, Jofra Archer 3-55) by 22 runs
(IANS)
