Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes inspire England to dramatic cricket victory over India

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It was one of the finest Tests ever played.

There were thrills and spills until that last wicket fell in dramatic fashion. There were some incredible individual performances.

Tension and tempers frayed occasionally and both skippers, Ben Stokes and Shubman Gill, were not surprised as they expected things to blow up in this top-rated series.

One of the most talked about fast-bowler in recent years, Jofra Archer, was back in the England squad after four years of being mollycoddled in cotton balls to help him recover from his nagging injuries. And he delivered with three wickets and one brilliant catch.

There was that solid, straight-forward batting ace Joe Root, wicket-keeping-batsman ace Jimmy Smith and skipper Stokes, the brains behind this victory.

India had its own set of stars. The brilliant all-rounder Ajay Jadeja, fast-bowling phenomenon Jasprit Bumrah, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, spinner Washington Sundar and KL Rahul, that man with those breath-taking cover drives.

All these luminaries rose to the moment to deliver brilliance inside the five days at the hallowed Lord’s ground that was also packed to the rafters even on the fifth day which is a rarity.

There was a good reason for it this time as Stokes’ squad had bowled itself into a winning position at the end of the fourth day. But the majority of the fans, who were Indian, were hoping and praying that the away team would pull out a miracle victory. India kept pegging away at that total and the England fans chewed on their finger nails as the visitors inched closer.

At the start of the day, India needed just 135 with six wickets in hand after being set 193 for victory. The previous evening England had left India tottering at 58 for four wickets.

But that target looked gigantic for India at the lunch break as England appeared on course for a far more comfortable win after it had reduced India to 112 for eight.

But here is where Jadeja showed his resilience and, along with Bumrah, the pair made the home team sweat as they spent two hours at the wicket. Man-of-the-match Stokes made the breakthrough by enticing Bumrah to sky the ball, but Jadeja continued to frustrate England as he reached 50 off 150 balls.

Then the unexpected unfolded. In one brilliant move, Stokes brought on his injured spinner Shoaib Bashir, who had his non-bowling hand taped up. Bashir’s delivery to Mohammed Siraj ricocheted off the bat of the bottom-order batsman, trickled on to the stumps and dislodged the bails.

Bashir, who was mobbed by his team, will undergo surgery and miss the next two Tests.

England had pulled off a 22-run victory in an encounter that could have gone either way until that fifth day. Jadeja looked forlorn and dejected at the other end as he saw the bails come off Siraj’s wickets.

Both Root and Zak Crawley showed some class by consoling Siraj after Bashir had broken the hearts of a billion Indian fans.

India matched England’s first innings total of 387 thanks in large part to Rahul’s 100, injured wicket-keeper Pant’s 74 and Jadeja ramming his fourth straight half-century in vain.

Scores: England 387 (Root 104, Brydon Carse 56, Jimmy Smith 51, Bumrah five for 74) and 192 (Root 40, Sundar four for 22). India 387 (Rahul 100, Pant 74, Jadeja 72) and 170 (Jadeja 61 not out, Stokes three for 48, Archer three for 55).

STARC DESTROYS WINDIES

Paceman Mitchell Starc destroyed the West Indies with the fastest five-wicket haul in Test cricket as Australia crushed the home team by 196 runs for a 3-0 whitewash in Kingston, Jamaica.

West Indies was bowled out for 27, the second-lowest total in Test history after New Zealand’s 26 against England in 1955.

Playing in his 100th Test, Starc wrecked the home team’s top order in just 15 balls to finish with the incredible figures of six wickets for nine runs!

And the other pace bowler to get into the annals of the game was Scott Boland. He became the 10th Aussie to take a Test hat-trick as the West Indies’ second innings lasted a mere 14.3 overs and seven of their batsmen were dismissed for ducks.

Earlier, the visitors were shot out for 121, their lowest score against Windies in 30 years, with pacemen Alzarri Joseph completing career-best figures of five for 27 and Shamar Joseph taking four for 34. Scores: 225 and 121. West Indies: 143 and 27.

West Indies skipper Roston Chase said it was “quite embarrassing” to be bowled for less than 30 runs.

“It’s quite heartbreaking, because I think we did it in all three tests, and we’re not really learning from our mistakes,” he added.

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