On this day in 2014: India pulled off their first Test win at Lord’s since 1986 | Cricketnext News
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India successfully defended the target of 319 on a challenging Lord’s track that offered seamers significant seam movement up front and uneven bounce as the strip dried later on.
A golden moment, indeed. (File Photo)
India ended a painstaking 28-year-long wait for a Test victory at Lord’s and pulled off one of their finest triumphs on away soil on this day. In a remarkable performance by the then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young, in-transition brigade, they upstaged England at the end of a memorable five-day contest at the Home of Cricket. India successfully defended the target of 319 on a challenging Lord’s track that offered seamers significant seam movement up front and uneven bounce as the strip dried later on.
Under pressure after his team missed out on similar wins at Johannesburg and Wellington earlier that season, Dhoni needed his bowlers to come to the rescue and as always, his tried-and-trusted workhorse Ishant Sharma put his hand up. Ishant produced arguably his finest spell in Test cricket on a gloomy afternoon at Lord’s, finishing with astonishing figures of 7 for 74 to help dismiss England for 223.
In an inspired burst, Ishant used his height to great advantage as he broke past a gritty fifth wicket stand between Joe Root and Moeen Ali by getting Moeen to fend off a bouncer to short leg and opened the gates for a bizarre English collapse after lunch. One after the other, the Englishmen kept trying to pull and hook Ishant’s well-directed bouncers and were out caught in the deep.
Ishant went from ‘Unlucky Ishant’ to the game-changer for Dhoni and left India on the brink of their first victory at Lord’s since 1986. Left-armer Ravindra Jadeja then got No.11 James Anderson run-out to close off the contest and usher in the most memorable celebrations for the visitors, who took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after entering the 2014 tour as massive second favourites.
Apart from Ishant, ace swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar also stood up to the challenge by taking an instrumental 6 for 82 in the first-innings, where the Indians kept England’s lead down to only 24 after Ajinkya Rahane’s most courageous 103 had taken the tourists to 295 all out on Day 1.
In the third-innings, the in-form Murali Vijay top-scored with a 95 while Bhuvneshwar (52) and Jadeja (68) produced invaluable half-centuries to extend the target past the 300 mark. On a surface designed for English seamers to dominate and hammer the visitors, they turned the tables on them with a spirited performance that will be remembered forever fondly.
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