What is special about India’s win at Lord’s over and above the thrilling moments?

By K.R. Nayar 

While almost everyone would have watched the match or read about it, what excited me most is this aspect of how a team can go on to win a contest and the contribution by players from both teams to make it an intense contest and thus glorify the game.

India's winning moment. Pictures ICC and Lord's  Twitter 

Almost all cricket fans would have surely watched, read, and/or heard in detail about India’s victory at the Lord’s cricket ground yesterday. So my intention is not to dissect how India won or where England went wrong. There are certain things we get to know from a well-fought cricket contest. Historic victories do not happen without giving out a few messages for cricketers and cricket lovers.

As a cricket writer, I have never favoured a particular team. What I enjoy is an intense contest, and whenever that happens, it gives me immense pleasure. So as the match progressed on the final day, it hardly mattered to me whether India would bowl out England within the available overs or whether England would battle it out and pull off a draw. What I enjoyed is the intense battle between England’s batsmen to stay at the crease and the efforts by the Indian bowlers to get them out.  W G Grace, who played between 1848 and 1915, and was considered as one of the greatest batsmen of that era, once said: “There is no such thing as a crisis in cricket, only the next ball.”

India's supporters may have been extremely worried when Virat Kohli dropped Jos Buttler on 3 with England's score of 75 for 5. When England was battling to draw the match, and when the number of overs left for the day began to dwindle, many believed that the catch would prove costly and the team would pay dearly for the drop. Constant replays of that drop also prevented fans from trying to forget that incident. But Kohli and his team quickly brushed aside that miss and instead fought harder to pull off a victory. Misses and near misses are that what makes cricket exciting and hence it is important not to keep on brooding over it.

Any incident that happens during a match should not rattle the team’s goal to win the match. India wanted to bowl out England in the 60 overs. As Kohli said after the match: “We had the belief we can get them out in 60 overs.” And they did it.

To execute any plan, all players in the squad must put their hands up and believe they can do it and contribute to it. It is because the contributions from so many were brilliant, one gets the feeling that although K L Rahul was declared the man of the match, it could have very well been Mohammed Siraj or Jasprit Bumrah.

It is a fact that England batting failed but it was spectacular to see their captain Joe Root sparkle with an unbeaten 180 and top scoring in the second innings with 33 runs. When a leader leads from the front, whether the team wins or not, his efforts stand out.   

Joe Root's splendid century 

From the Indian angle, it was remarkable to see Indian pacers take all 20 wickets, announcing that India’s pacers are today among the best in the world. It was also spectacular to see tail enders like Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah take the match away from England, and that too in England. There was a time when many of India’s tailenders could barely stay on against England’s bowling in England.

While there are many aspects that can be pointed out as factors behind India’s win, what was special for me was the joy with which the Indian players played on the last day. And they did that carrying the tension of having to bowl England out in 60 overs. Many would have observed that most of them were smiling, cracking jokes with Rishabh Pant and going about their mission. For bringing in this attitude, Team India's coach Ravi Shastri deserves a big salute. In almost all my interviews with him after he took charge as India’s coach he has stressed on the importance of enjoying the game and playing it. To all those who congratulated Shastri, he WhatsApped the picture below.  

So the last act of the match when Siraj pegged back the off stump of James Anderson followed by Siraj and Kohli running around in joy and Bumrah leaping and punching the air in joy will remain in our minds for long as the symbol of a well-earned victory, and that too at the historic Lord’s cricket ground.