Gargi Raut In London
The Test match between India and England is rich with momentum shifts, and it’s the final over drama of each day that has truly brought this Lord’s contest ablaze. The first three days started off conventionally, but with the tempers rising, time-wasting and tit-for-tat tactics have proved to be the catalyst in the match turning into a full-blown psychological battle.
It all started when India had put England under pressure late on Day 3. The Indian batting lineup had levelled the score at 387 and the bowlers were desperate for a good burst of bowling. India raced back to the field, as Jasprit Bumrah steamed in with fire, but what followed was pure theatre.
Zak Crawley pulled out mid-delivery, pointing at the sight screen, which then triggered an angry outburst from Shubman Gill, who lashed out with an explicit sledge. Moments later, as Crawley got hit while fending off a delivery, it was Gill who called for the physio in frustration. A split second later, he was inches away from Crawley, taunting him as he called out for the physio once again. The situation boiled over with players exchanging words in an emotionally charged finale to the day.
Fast-forward to Day 4, and it was truly a fast forward from what we had seen in the past 3 days. After 3 days of traditional Test cricket, the pace quickened and every session was a huge event. Role reversed at the end of Day 4, but the drama remained. This time it was the Indian batting unit under pressure, and England sensing blood. Having lost Yashasvi Jasiwal to a half-hearted pull, Karun Nair to a misjudged leave and Shubman Gill to an LBW off Brydon Carse, the situation for India was looking grim. The final over saw nightwatchman Akash Deep doing everything possible to survive, even resorting to Crawley-esque tactics by calling for the physio after getting hit by a delivery and slowing down play. In a clear act of retaliation, Deep tried to stall England’s charge, mimicking the same strategy that had enraged India the previous day.
Ben Duckett, of all, wasn’t impressed. He responded with a sarcastic round of applause as Akash dragged his feet, and the physio took his sweet time tending to Deep’s temporary injury,;a direct callback to Bumrah’s frustration just 24 hours earlier. Meanwhile, the modern ‘wall’ of the Indian team, KL Rahul stood at the other end of the crease enduring verbal volleys from Ben Stokes, but he refused to flinch. Akash couldn’t survive the Stokes storm, losing his off-stump to the final ball of the day, but he had done his job, he had successfully weathered the storm and saved one of the most important batters in the run chase, which was Rahul. And it added another dramatic exclamation point to a tense finish.
These fiery end-of-day exchanges have brought spice back into the competition. Not only that, ever since the explosion of emotions from the Indian team late on Day 3, their intensity has been sky high and it also shifted the narrative from just cricket to a battle of mental toughness. With India at 58/4 chasing 193, and England feeding off the energy of these confrontations, Day 5 promises high-stakes action. But it’s the simmering tension from those last-over battles that might end up defining the match.
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