It was magical manipulation! The turnaround that India scripted on Monday, the final day of the Lord’s Test to beat England by a vast margin of 151 runs was nothing short of that. How else can anyone explain the reversal of fortunes in the span of six spell-binding hours? And curiously, the trap was laid perhaps on Saturday.
On the final day, India’s energetic regrouping was just as visible as the inexplicable disintegration of the England challenge from a position where it could sniff victory. Let us quickly skim the palpable and then turn our attention to the intangible part of the game that turned the match on its head.
To be sure, centurion KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma’s opening stand in overcast conditions on the first day was as important as Mohammed Siraj’s four-wicket hauls in both innings. Similarly, the four seamers’ contributions proved to be as crucial as the painstakingly compiled century partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahana on the fourth day.
Without recency being the prime reason, the unbroke 89-run association between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah and their strikes against the England opening batsmen with the new ball were as significant as Virat Kohli’s instinctive decision to ask for DRS to see the backs of Jonny Bairstow at the stroke of tea and Ollie Robinson later.
The Bumrah delivery that made England captain and the man in magical form, Joe Root, nick a regulation catch behind the stumps was special and there was a sweet ring when Siraj pegged back James Anderson’s off-stump to complete India’s amazing victory that had looked so remote barely 24 hours earlier.
Indeed, you can pick many moments from an engrossing contest being the most decisive and it would be patently unfair to choose one over others. After all, it is like a jigsaw puzzle that remains incomplete without every piece in its place. Yet, I am tempted to pick one passage of play – 10 deliveries, to be precise – that had the largest impact on how the game rolled out.
In a Test with so many twists and turns, it is very easy to overlook the massive role played by Bumrah’s apparently outrageous decision to pepper James Anderson with a series of short-pitched deliveries in a long over late on the third day. The unexpected barrage rattled England no end and, in its own delayed manner, had a devastating effect on the course of the Test.
It made the England fast bowlers to think in terms of repaying Bumrah with the same coin at the first opportnity. The short-pitched delivery was the England bowlers’ preferred mode of attack as they targeted Bumrah’s body rather than the set of stumps when India was facing defeat squarely in its face. It was, as Joe Root and his men discovered, a fatal blunder.
England’s response to Bumrah bowling bouncers to Anderson was not quite immediate to qualify as an Amygdala Hijack. Yet, their emotional response seemed so immediate and out of place was rather illustrative of the term coined by Daniel Goleman in his 1996 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ.
The sight of Bumrah walking in with India at 209 for eight on the fifth morning triggered a series of mistakes in the home cricketers’ minds. The second new ball was barely six and a half overs old but instead of trying to bowl at the wicket, the bowlers focused on aiming to hit his body. As they sought to settle scores by engaging in that battle, England lost sight of the war.
When they tested Bumrah’s resolve, the England bowlers did not seem to care that 22 of the 28 wickets until then had fallen to catches behind the stumps or in the slip cordon, bowled and leg before wicket verdicts. Any sensible squad would have pressed on with the intention of adding the two scalps and chasing a smaller target. But England’s ego prevented that.
Curiously, while it may have been okay for skipper Root to be but a curious by-stander when Bumrah and Shami were engaged in a verbal joust with Jos Buttler when the partnership was worth but 7 runs. But it defied logic that he was not more hands on when his bowlers changed the length they chose to bowl to the ninth-wicket pair.
Of course, Bumrah survived that onslaught long enough to add 89 runs for the unfinished ninth wicket with Shami and stretch India’s lead to 271 runs. That partnership not only eliminated the tie and an India defeat from the frame but also gave the visiting bowlers nearly two sessions to blast England batsmen out for a spectacular Indian victory.
The Indian quartet of seam bowlers were charged up alright but were on the money embracing the right length. In not keeping their wits about them when on the threshold of bowling Kohli and his men out for a low total, England’s captain and bowlers allowed India to get its foot in the door. Indeed, England blundered its way to lose a contest it held the advantage in.
Photo: Courtesy BCCI.TV
