New, Gritty India Lord Over Lord's
Alastair Cook's men ran into New India, a group of gritty players, who were not scared of giving back what their country had received for years. Faced with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries the world over, Ishant Sharma sent down a generous doze of the same medicine on the hapless hosts at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket.
- Sanjay Ahirwal
- Updated: July 24, 2014 05:08 PM IST
India's victory over England at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, is truly a game-changer.
All Test victories in England have been remarkable. But this victory is with a difference. In the 1971 series, when India defeated England, in England, for the first time, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, it was the spin of B S Chandrashekhar, his haul of six wickets that got us the famous victory.
Spin was like Indian Black Magic. Something the English, at times, made fun of like the Great Indian Rope Trick. Spinners, like B S Chandrashekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi, and S Venkatraghavan, had the ability to entangle batsmen in a web of spin, and force them to make mistakes. (Alastair Cook Critics' Favourite Punching Bag)
But this quartet of spinners was not fearsome. On their day they had the capacity to demolish any team, but those days were far and wide, especially overseas.
India's first victory at Lord's came in 1986. Under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.
The five-wicket haul by medium pacer Chetan Sharma was the catalyst. Here was a bowler who was at best a medium pacer. Again not feared. Given a bit of help by the favourable English weather, he swung the red cherry prodigiously to ensure a famous victory for Kapil's Devils. (Rahane's Century was the Difference at Lord's: Swann)
How could an English team lose a cricket Test match to a nation that the Britons had ruled for close to 200 years ?
This loss resulted in David Gower's exit as England captain.
© AP
But on Monday Ishant Sharma used his pace, and bounce to demolish Alastair Cook's men.
He gave back the English a flavour of their own medicine. It was not just a ploy that worked on its own. It was a well-thought out strategy. Bravo, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
On Day 5 of the Test, India needed six wickets for victory. Joe Root and Moeen Ali were well settled, and India failed to take a wicket till lunch.
It was a this point that Dhoni asked Ishant to use his height and bowl short pitched deliveries. This was something the English did not expect.
Indians were supposed to be poor players of short pitched balls. They were not expected to be the ones to use short pitched stuff to get their opponents out. First to go was Moeen Ali.
Trying to defend a scorcher from Ishant, Moeen gave forward short-leg an easy catch. Thank You. Batsmen who followed thought of Moeen's dismissal as a flash in the pan and tried to hit their way out. Consequently, all of them fell in the trap.
Getting caught in the deep, trying to hook or pull; they just did not think that Dhoni's men had tasted blood, and were going for the jugular.
Till last Monday the cricketing world only remembered how Clive Lloyd's men had intimidated Sunil Gavaskar, Brajesh Patel and Co. with Bodyline bowling in the 1976 series in Jamaica to try and wrestle a series they were on the verge of losing. (Dhoni Hails Ishant's Heroic Spell)
Hostile West Indian pacers had sent at least nine Indian batsmen to seek medical attention. Australia, South Africa, West Indies, and England, all believed that Indian batsmen would cower towards shortleg when faced with fast, rising, short-pitched deliveries.
But this was then.
However, this Indian team is different. This is a confident lot. It has the grit and determination of New India.
Seven of the players in the team weren't even born when India won the Lords' Test in 1986.
This is a world champion lot. And it won India a victory using the same weapons other countries used against us. This would make this loss so much more bitter to take for the stiff upper-lipped Englishmen.
And like David Gower in 1986, this loss could cost Alistair Cook his captaincy.