Our Bureau
London
India and England just had one of the most thrilling games of cricket seen in a while as the home team clinched the match shattering the hearts of all the Indian cricket fans. What at one point looked like an easy win for the English side ended up being a gruelling contest of bat and ball testing the grit and determination of both sides.
England won the match by 22 runs with Shoaib Bashir dismissing Mohammed Siraj to take his side home and take a lead in the 5-match series. England Team Captain, Ben Stokes was awarded the Man of the Match award for his contributions with both bat and ball. Stokes ended the match with bowling figures of 5 wickets in the 44 overs bowled in both innings and played two gritty knocks in scoring 44 (110) and 33 (96) in the first and second innings respectively.
India started the day on 58 runs at the loss of 4 wickets, looking to chase a target of 193. With KL Rahul set on one end and the inform batsman Rishabh Pant on the other end, India looked in a good position to chase down the target. But the English pace attack had a different plan in mind as they bowled outstandingly hitting the right lengths and kept taking wickets in regular intervals while also keeping the run rate in check.
When the last session was coming to end Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy were at the crease battling it out but just before lunch Reddy was dismissed by Chris Woakes. This meant that Jadeja was the only batter left for India with tail enders Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj left on the other end.
However, the Indian team didn’t back down, showing their heart as both Bumrah and Siraj batted their hearts out, defending as many balls as they could. Jadeja on the other end didn’t give up as well, facing most of the balls in the over and taking a single on the last or second last ball of the over. He remained not out at the crease scoring 61 off 181 balls.
In the end, India’s luck ran out as Siraj defended a ball from Bashir but the ball overspun and rolled off to hit the stumps and dismiss the batter. Siraj stood there devastated as English players celebrated their triumph, some even patting Siraj and Jadeja on their backs for their insane efforts. England now lead the series 2-1 with two matches to go.
