Virat Kohli and Team India, 2021 Test. (Source – Getty Images)
It was peak summer in England as the Indian team reached the United Kingdom with added layers before acclimatising to the intimidating English wind. On the last tour in 2018, England rolled a 4-1 in Parejos and handed India another heartbreak at their home.
Kohli’s chop-and-change attitude had critics whispering over lack of stability in his captaincy. The 2019 World Cup loss in the same country via the same countrymen had mist over his eyes landing in the UK in 2021. The first Test at Nottinghamshire, August 8, and Day 5 of the game, chasing a target of 209, India were 52 for one before the start of the day. With 158 needed and nine wickets in hand, England weather’s Lows of Depressions showed remorse as the game was called off, and hosts breathed a sigh of relief.
12 August 2021, the Asian giants braced up to play the second Test at the ‘Mecca of cricket’…Lord’s. The country where cricket originated was about to experience what knocking someone’s socks off meant.
Joe Root won the toss, raised his eyebrows to look up at the pesky weather before the presenters, and put India to bat first. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul walked onto the green turf. In the backdrop, grey skies hinting at summer dankness and winds caressing the Duke cherry looked lethal in swing-mistress Jimmy Anderson’s hand.
The duo braved the first 76 balls, the leather softened and threads loosened up as Rohit scored the first boundary of the innings off Sam Curran. A 126-run stand ended when Anderson cleaned Rohit up. Rahul seemed to spot the glitter on the ball as the batter made Kohli’s 113-ball 43 struggle seem meaningless. Rahul’s bohemian knock of 129 off 250 and Rohit’s gothic 83 off 145 saw India post 364 runs.
Under the cloudy skies, the long-maned Ishant Sharma commenced his run-up as the sun peaked from one of the darkest clouds adjacent to The Pavilion. Jasprit Bumrah followed by charging from the mysterious Grandstand down to the Tavern side, famously called the Lord’s Slope. But the first blood was at the hands of young Mohammed Siraj.
Lilly Langtry, the famous theatre artist who was believed to be the third love interest of Silk Hat-Prince, is depicted in an imaginary painting at the Lord’s Museum. Don’t know about their affair, but Siraj was having one on his debut UK tour and he started by dismissing Dominic Sibley off a freebie and followed it up with a sheepish smile after Rahul caught hold of the catch. Young men and their luck… aren’t it?
The Hyderabad pacer launched a series of spears, built by Nawab, in the land of Charles. He picked four wickets assisted well by Ishant Sharma’s three-fer. But Joe Root’s 180 off 321 saw England take a lead of 27 runs.
It was August 15, Day 3, Indians were celebrating Independence Day back home, or let’s say, woke up early on a Sunday morning to witness the epic clash.
The weather Gods showed presence again – it drizzled before the start of the day and all India needed, theoretically, was a lead of over 170 on Day 3.
The wicket was rolled over by the heavy roller, a grey silhouette over with a full moon-like spectrum, then came the sunshine and Anderson, riding high on a fifer in the first innings, pointed the leather on Rahul’s pads only to witness ‘no swing.’
But Mark Wood did Siraj in the second innings and plucked out India’s top three. The visitors were 55 for 3 as clouds gathered across Lord’s to hum the ballad. Kohli looked rusty and 21.84…that was Cheteshwar Pujara’s strike rate in his 206-ball and 45 runs innings. Moeen Ali dropped Ajinkya Rahane in the 60th over and the batter notched 61 off 146.
But it was India’s accidental heroes Mohammed Shami and Bumrah who orchestrated a Queen Sacrifice on a 64 squared Lord’s board. The pawn turned queen and moved diagonally, vertically, and horizontally leaving Grand Master’s perplexed. Result? An 89-run stand for the ninth wicket with Shami and Bumrah remaining unbeaten on 56 and 34 respectively.
India’s lead swelled to 271 and overcast conditions beckoned the bait India was to lay if winning at Lord’s meant finding a Mirage in desert. Kohli walks up to the balcony, looks at his players soaking in a humid yet cold Lord’s evening, and with nine balls into session… declares.
Decked in sweaters and aiming to sweat it all out, the team converges below the then newly-built Lord’s balcony as Kohli delivers a gospel every Indian cricket fan not only heard but recited over and over again throughout the 60 over and I believe, will recite for over 60 years to come.
“For 60 overs they should feel hell out there,” Kohli commanded.
Bumrah charged in and projected the third ball down the leg as Burns nicked one towards mid-off fielder Siraj… gone for a duck. Shami shared the red cherry and wanted a bit of it and the scapegoat was Sibley, who got squared out and England were two down for one run. Kohli’s ‘shocking’ declaration saw India pin down two poles of England’s batting lineup in 10 balls as Day 5 awaited a climax.
Root was the man for England and Root was the man India needed to uproot.
Those 180 runs in the first innings had hurt India’s cakewalking prospects. Bumrah and Shami unleashed a barrage of bouncers and kept some low. Root flicked some, defended many, and edged here and there as Kohli brought Ravindra Jadeja in. Where’s Siraj?
The sky turned gloomy and Bumrah was shown a hold-on gesture as Siraj picked the semi-chipped leather chunk. Siraj bowled couple and so did Jadeja. Root,and Hameed dig their base deep with flood lights resulting in jitters in Indian players who were already uneasy.
On the third ball of the 16th over, Ishant sent Hameed packing orchestrating an LBW. But the cold-blooded Root did not flinch a bit at the non-striker’s end. Siraj and Ishant kept gasping ball after ball and Kohli brought Shami 10 minutes into Tea. The last ball before the tea, Ishant picked Bairstow, and with four down, the momentum shifted to India’s side.
The Indian team can do anything, but can that ‘anything’ be from the unlikeliest of resources?
Bumrah did just that on the third ball of Day 5. The Indian bowlers for almost 20 overs, over two days, spooled Root enticing with baits and left the bobber open overnight. Bumrah spread the chum with an outside ball and angled in ball. He then bowled on a good length, wide on the crease and uprooted England’s skipper in a jiffy.
Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali at the crease. 205 runs for England and 222 balls for India as history was ready to surrender.
Buttler receives a pep-talk from Kohli… “Don’t worry about it. Not white-ball cricket.”
The guy knows how to contribute other than bat too.
Almost 16 overs pass by without a wicket, and then comes Siraj, probably misconstruing the semi-lit terracotta Lord’s balcony to be a reflection of Charminar.
Sends Moeen and Sam Curran packing in two consecutive deliveries. England 7 down for 90. The eight scalp was almost 12 overs away and Bumrah sent Robinson to the dressing room.
There’s something about Siraj. The bloke pushed his Platina bike with no fuel to run it and turned Kohli into a beach cruiser on Lord’s outfield as Buttler perished nicking one to Pant. Now it was Anderson and Siraj.
“I used to exist inside myself, but now I’m only on the outside. That’s why I can see what’s inside of you”
Someone must have said this to Indian bowlers before walking through St. Johns Wood Road. They had picked 18 of the 20 wickets by now in the Test. The 19th? Siraj was about to suffix Anderson’s name two balls later and not Anderson, and not Siraj, India produced a thud on a gloomy and pompously staring England’s post-noon sky.
Virat danced and the team danced. Victory lap? Yeah, there was everything at the Lord’s with the cricketing Lord watching over the Mecca of cricket, and registering what 11 devotes from a land that has accepted the sport as religion have done on 16 August 2021 evening.
