England’s thrilling 22-run victory over India at Lord’s seals 2-1 series lead

LONDON (AP) — England took a slow-burning Lord’s test from India on Monday and it didn’t matter to the winner that it fluked it in the end.

India was chasing 193 to win and turned the fifth and final day from imminent defeat to victory in sight.

India was 22 runs from glory with one wicket left when No. 11 batter Mohammed Siraj played on to spinner Shoaib Bashir. Siraj made a routine block but the ball spun back and he watched it dribble past his shoes and into his leg stump, knocking off the bail.

Siraj slumped over in agony as Bashir wheeled away and became the center of England celebrations. Because Bashir broke the little finger on his non-bowling left hand on Saturday and was out of the rest of the series.

India was all out for 170 and England grabbed a 2-1 lead in the five-test series.

“A little bit tighter than I would have liked,” Stokes said.

England, which chased down 371 at Headingley, rebounded from being outclassed at Edgbaston, where it lost by 336 runs.

The fourth test at Old Trafford starts on July 23, and neither team will forget a Lord’s contest that was tight for all five days.

“As close as test cricket gets,” India captain Shubman Gill said. “To make a comeback like this was tremendous from Ravindra Jadeja and the low order. An anticlimax for us the way Mohammed Siraj went.”

Jadeja rallies India

England was on the brink of victory by lunch on Monday when it had India 112-8.

But Ravindra Jadeja shepherded the India tail to threaten a miracle win. He dragged his side with support from No. 10 batter Jasprit Bumrah and last man Siraj to the point where England began to sweat.

Jadeja and Bumrah dropped India’s target below 80, 70, 60 then 50, while Jadeja and Siraj took it below 40 and 30 with each survived ball drawing rousing cheers from the overwhelming India fans at a packed Lord’s.

But at the tame end, Jadeja was stranded on 61 after facing 181 balls over 4 1/1 hours.

England started the day buzzing given it reduced India to 58-4 on Sunday evening. India also collapsed so swiftly that the new ball was only 17.4 overs old when play resumed on a sunny Monday morning.

England had about another eight overs before the ball lost its bite and Jofra Archer and captain Ben Stokes put on a show.

Archer ended up with 3-55 in the innings and an impressive match haul of five wickets in his first test in 4 1/2 years.

Stokes bowled two spells of nine overs in the morning (1-18) and 10 straight in the afternoon (1-14). His reward was to dismiss India’s set batter Lokesh Rahul and break the ninth-wicket partnership between Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah that was just starting to worry England. Stokes was man of the match for 77 runs, five wickets and a run out.

Joe Root couldn’t believe how long Stokes kept bowling. “He threw absolutely everything into this,” Root told the BBC. “I spent five years (as captain) trying to stop him bowling spells like that and it didn’t work. Now he’s captain, I have no chance!”

Stokes said, “Day 5, test match on the line, I have got some history of turning up in moments like that with the ball. I was pretty pumped.”

Archer sent Rishabh Pant’s off stump flying, and Rahul, 33 not out overnight, added only six runs in 34 minutes when he was pinned behind his crease by a Stokes nip-backer.

India was 81-6 and the top order failed for the first time in the series. Their previous scores at six down were 453, 335, 414, 412 and, on Saturday, 326.

Washington Sundar, who quipped on Sunday night that India would win after lunch, was out for a four-ball duck after a spectacular one-handed grab by Archer from his own bowling.

At 82-7, India could still send out Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, both of them averaging in the 30s with centuries to their name.

They reduced the target to under 100 but the late introduction of Chris Woakes, England’s attack leader, struck another blow when his ninth delivery was edged behind by Reddy on the stroke of lunch.

‘Written in the stars’

India’s Nos. 9-11 tail has a batting average of only 6.4 away from home since the start of 2023, the lowest all test teams in the period, according to statistician CricViz. But for the first time in the series, the tail fired.

Bumrah, who had six ducks in his last seven innings, was shielded by Jadeja at first, then slowly trusted with more of the strike. As they slowly but steadily reduced the target, the India fans grew louder.

Jadeja and Bumrah combined for 35 runs in 22 overs, until Bumrah hacked at a Stokes short ball and top-edged to mid-on. Bumrah scored 5 in 54 balls and screamed at himself for his rashness.

India still needed 46 more runs and England wasn’t going to sweat until 30 was needed.

Siraj entered to boos. He was fined 15% of his match fee early Monday for his altercation with Ben Duckett on Sunday. But Siraj was ably supporting Jadeja, even taking a shot on his shoulder from Archer.

After tea, Siraj and Jadeja added seven runs in five overs with the second new ball imminent. But their rising hopes were ruined by Bashir, who faces surgery this week on his broken left little finger. He drew admiration from his captain.

“To finish that game off,” Stokes said, “was written in the stars.”

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