Twitter erupts as India's tailenders pull off an unimaginable at the Lord's

Going into the final day of the Lord’s Test, all the talk was around Rishabh Pant and how his quick runs could be the defining factor. But, he managed to add only eight runs on day five. Given India’s long tail, this was a thing of concern. At 194 for 7, India was only 167 runs ahead and with a whole day to play, England might have felt they had their noses ahead. However, things changed quickly for India and for good in the most unlikely fashion. 

Ishant Sharma had to bat at no. 8 in this match as India decided to stick to a long tail, given the fact that they wanted to play four-seamers. There were many who had their reservations with that idea, with the batting record of India’s tail in recent times. Ishant played a cameo of 16 runs from 24 balls but managed to take India’s score beyond 200. But at 209 for 8, Mohammad Shami got together with Jasprit Bumrah, in what turned out to be one of the finest partnerships of the series so far. 

The partnership started with England bowling a few bouncers to both the tailenders, especially to Bumrah. There was a bit of chatter in the middle as well. The tensions seemed to rise a bit between the English players and the two Indian pacers and looked like a continuation from what had started between James Anderson and Bumrah on day three. 

Mohammed Shami notches up his second Test fifty

But, both Shami and Bumrah weathered the storm and asserted the pressure back on the English bowlers with aggressive runs. Shami was the main aggressor as he tried to up the scoring with some beautiful boundaries. Meanwhile, Bumrah looked as calm and composed as he has ever been with the bat. 

When Shami stepped down the ground to Moeen Ali for the third time, he managed to clear the boundary as his shot attained a distance of 92 meters. With that shot, he reached his second half-century in Tests, incidentally second in England. Along with Bumrah, he managed to bat till lunch was called on day five. 

India declared just after the second session started. Their score was 298 for 8, having collected 105 runs in the first session and 12 in the nine balls bowled in session two. The duo of Shami and Bumrah managed an unbeaten stand of 89 runs from 120 balls. Shami hit his career-best score of 56 runs from 70 balls while Bumrah too got his highest score of 34 runs from 64 balls.