Stokes, Root and Archer Lift England to Beat India by 22 Runs on Day 5 of 3rd Test at Lord’s

By Shah Faisal

Day 5 of the 3rd Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England was presumed to be a thrilling day, with India needing 135 runs and England six wickets to win the game. But nobody expected it to sway between both teams in such a manner.

England opened the day by getting rid of Rishabh Pant early, thanks to Jofra Archer, who has played the Bumrah role for England, giving them good starts and key wickets. With the fall of Rishabh, England got confident that at least they were not going to lose this match too early.

It was up to Jadeja and KL Rahul to keep the ship steady, but Stokes, who bowled so well yesterday, was not going to decide the fate of the game on the effort of other players. He kept bowling himself, with his great mind and unmatchable flair, got the wicket of KL Rahul to give India a real jolt.

His ball came back into Rahul's pads and struck him on the backfoot while Rahul was already deep in the crease. England got the wicket on review.

The confidence of good bowling brought in more wickets, as Archer managed to get Washington Sundar out caught and bowled, and gave England a stable base in the game.

India were 7/83 with seven wickets back in the hut. India’s last recognised pair of Reddy and Jadeja were on the crease, with the match virtually gone. India needed 109 more runs on a pitch that was supporting bowlers.

However, Reddy and Jadeja managed to push the score and gave a momentary pause to the fall of wickets that had been on since the last evening. With India going past 100 and the fans sensing a bit of hope, just before lunch, Woakes managed to get the outside edge of Reddy and got England back into the session.

At lunch, India were 118/8 in pursuit of England’s target. While England was fully over India, it was only a matter of time before England would win.

But the post-lunch session saw a great defense from Bumrah and good survival skills along with strike rotation from Jadeja. They both took singles every over, and Bumrah managed the last couple of balls consistently without any great difficulty. The target came down to the 40s, and India were okay with the situation. The ball had got soft, and there was nothing happening off the pitch.

But Stokes, who had been bowling with his heart only—because his body had nothing left to offer—kept bowling consistently without great breaks in between. He managed to get Bumrah to play a rash shot and scooped the ball in the air to give mid-on a catching opportunity that was accepted happily.

When Siraj came in to bat, the match had already gotten tense, and India believed that they could win if they played the same way. And Siraj followed the plot easily. He dug in deep to stay at the crease, and Jadeja got the occasional runs and boundaries whenever he was offered a chance.

The scores slowly came down to the 20s, and the game was in a thrilling balance. England brought Shoaib Bashir to bowl—probably to lure Jadeja into playing an expansive shot—and he delivered the last wicket in the most unlucky manner Siraj could imagine.

He tried to defend a ball that was slightly coming in, the ball struck the bat and got to the pitch, rolled back behind Siraj’s legs, and trickled towards the leg stump, just to meagerly hit it. Once this happened, the bail—which normally wouldn’t have fallen—fell to the wicket to send England and its fans into a euphoric state in a single moment.

India lost by 22 runs. The margin of runs might tell a story that the game was a closely contested match, but in reality, it was far beyond just a close game. It was a defining game. It had lots of things—from a slow pitch that made England score slowly, to equal first innings totals for both teams, from emotional encounters between players, to collapses of batting for both sides. It was a grinding game at the home of cricket, in which the home team finally won—only because England had Ben Stokes, and India, like most times in the series, couldn't capitalize on key moments.

Most of India would think of Ben Stokes' brilliance in the field when he got Pant out in the first innings. And that is perhaps the time when the spiritual control of the game got away from India. Since then, England found ways to crawl back into the game with the help of Jofra Archer.

Ben Stokes got the Man of the Match for his gritty batting, fantastic heart-lifting bowling, and his ingenious mind as a cricketer for captaining at the critical times. He was the center of the win, but one should not ignore the effort Joe Root put in to keep England in the game for four days.