Lord's Victory is a Pivotal Point in Indian Cricket: Sunil Gavaskar

While the whole of India basked in the glory of the team's second win in 17 Tests at the iconic Lord's, former skipper Sunil Gavaskar said the triumph went beyond the history everyone was talking about.

India had last won a Test at the Mecca of cricket 28 years back in 1986, when as many as 10 of the current touring party were not even born, but Gavaskar chose to focus on the way a young team fought against adversities and hoped they would not let complacency creep into their game.

"We keep using the term historic loosely. History will take care of itself. This is a pivotal point in Indian cricket because of the way they came back in this Test match. It wasn't easy going for them and it's the kind of application and determination they have shown that augurs well for the future. ('Indian Can Bounce Teams Out Too')

"All of us who have gone through the strife are hoping that the old Indian malaise of complacency does not creep in. As long as complacency does not creep in, this Indian can only go forward," Gavaskar told NDTV after India had wrapped up a 95-run win over England to go 1-0 up in the five-match series. (Cook Struggles to Accept 'Tough Lord's Defeat')

Gavaskar, hailed as one of the greatest openers the game has ever seen, was impressed with the way India's batsmen applied themselves on a green first-day pitch at Lord's. Asked to bat first, the hosts were tottering at 145/7, before the lower order staged a remarkable recovery with Ajinkya Rahane scoring a gutsy hundred, before Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara stitched a crucial partnership on the third day.

"India played exceptionally well; they were put to bat on a green top, they handled that well. No praise can be too high for Murali Vijay and Pujara for the way they batted in that first session when the ball was doing things and made it easy for the batsmen coming down.  

"The kind of application showed by the lower order batsmen in both the innings (was impressive). Rahane's 100, Vijay's 95. Even Dhoni. A free scoring batsman like him made sure that on the third evening, there were no in-roads into the Indian batting," Gavaskar said. (Ishant's Career-Best Figures Wreck England)

Gavaskar also heaped praises on another former India skipper Rahul Dravid and said his role as batting consultant should be given due prominence. It was Dravid's application, determination and patience, which Gavaskar said, had rubbed off on the young Indian team. (England Bullied, Bounced Out by India, Says Warne)

"The impact of Dravid as batting consultant cannot be underestimated. Dravid was known for his patience and that has rubbed off on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami in the first Test. Don't forget it was their last wicket partnership that pushed England back. It is from there that the rest of the team learned. His impact as a batting consultant cannot be underestimated and it neeeds to be given due prominence because we don't tend to do that when we have Indian coaches and Indian consultants," Gavaskar said. (Dhoni Hails Ishant's Heroic Spell)