Related Links: India Tour of England 2014 | England vs India, 2nd Investec Test at Lord’s Scorecard
It was nothing less than a historic win for Team India at Lord’s as it was only the second time in 82 years that it has won a Test match at the Mecca of World Cricket. This famous victory for India came against all odds. When England inserted India to bat first on an unusually looking green pitch, Indian fans may have given no chance for their team’s victory.
The Indian team kept the low expectations of batting poorly abroad in tact when it slipped to 145 for 7 on the first day. However, the diminutive Ajinkya Rahane had other ideas. The Mumbaiker showed his fighting ability to score an amazing century. Rahane got his chance to stroke the ball around only because Cheteshwar Pujara played the unglamorous role of seeing off the shine for 117 balls without scoring many runs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar contributed significantly to take India to a respectable first innings total of 295 along with Ajinkya Rahane. India should have been bundled out for 180 but they got a lot more than what was a par total on a pitch that was assisting lateral movement. Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept the match even by taking 6 for 82 to restrict England to a first innings lead of 24 runs despite Gary Ballance’s century. England should have easily got 400 as the pitch was no longer green and the seam movement wasn’t that exaggerating as on Day 1.
India in the second innings had everything going their way with the top three batsmen getting runs. Murali Vijay went on to anchor the innings with a hard-working 95 from 247 balls. India faced a mini crisis after slipping to 123 for 4 losing three wickets in succession. But thanks to Murali Vijay’s knock the lead looked decent before all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took over to score superb half centuries.
The tourists scored an unexpected 342 runs in their second innings to leave England a stiff target of 319. By the end of Day 4, India was in the driver’s seat taking four key wickets. On the final day, there were stranded by a partnership between Moeen Ali and Joe Root. However, once Ishant Sharma started bowling short balls and bouncers, the match changed completely. And after lunch, the hosts dramatically collapsed to get all out for 223. Ishant Sharma produced match-winning figures of 7 for 74. India won the Test match by 95 runs.