Lord's Flashback: From Rahul's ton to Siraj's bowling masterclass, how India conquered home of cricket in 2021

Team India is all set to take on England at the ‘home of cricket’ Lord’s Cricket Ground in the third Test match starting on Thursday (July 10). Led by Shubman Gill, the visitors will look to carry their momentum from Edgbaston having drawn level in the five-match Test series. Ahead of the latest Test, let’s have a glance at what happened last time India travelled to the iconic venue.

What happened last time India played a Test at Lord’s?

Having drawn the opening Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, Virat Kohli and his side produced an all-round show with bat and ball with the match starting on 12 August 2021. Having lost the toss, India were put into bat as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul opened for the visitors with Virat Kohli in charge of the side. Rahul scored a superb 129 runs, becoming the latest Indian batter to score a hundred at Lord’s. He stitched an opening stand of 126 runs with Rohit Sharma (83) before the latter was dismissed.

England soon bounced back as James Anderson led the charge, scalping five wickets for 62 and helping England bowl out India for 364. Virat (42) and Ravindra Jadeja (40) also contributed with the bat for India before getting dismissed.

In response, England were bowled out for 391 runs in their first innings with Joe Root scoring 180. However, apart from him, there was no significant contribution with the bat from other batters as the hosts earned a slender lead of 27 runs. Mohammed Siraj bagged a tally of 94/4 while Ishant Sharma bagged three wickets.

India in their second innings did not have the best start as they were 55/3 before a 100-run stand between Cheteshwar Pujara (45) and Ajinkya Rahane (61). India would later declare their innings at 298/8 on the final day, giving England a target of 272 runs to chase.

ALSO READ | From Dilip Vengsarkar to Rahul Dravid, 5 Indian batters with the most Test runs at Lord’s Cricket Ground

Unlike the current Bazball era, England played to save the Test match which saw them start on the back foot. The hosts were 44/3 and lost two wickets in the opening two overs, giving India hopes of winning the match. Root was the top scorer with 33 and only two more batters got into double figures as India bowled the hosts out for 120 runs to win a famous Test match at Lord’s.

Bumrah bagged 33/3 while Siraj’s brilliance with the ball continued as he ended with 32/4 in the second innings of the match.

The onus will be on the Indian team now as they look to repeat the heroics ahead of the third Test at the same venue which starts on Thursday.