On this day in 2014: India claim historic victory over England in Lord’s Test
The time difference of 28 years for Team India is special in many ways. After winning the 1983 World Cup, India won the World Cup in 2011 after a long wait of 28 years. India also won their second Test match at Lord’s after such a long gap. India won their first Test match on 10 June 1986 under the leadership of Kapil Dev at this ground, called the Mecca of cricket. After this India had to wait for 28 years.
On this day in 2014, India won their second Test at Lord’s by defeating hosts England by 95 runs under the leadership of MS Dhoni. This is the same series in which current Indian captain Virat Kohli was struggling with his form.
Batting first, India scored 295 runs with the help of a century from Ajinkya Rahane (103). After this, the hosts gave a good reply to India, scoring 319 runs, and took a lead of 24 runs over India in the first innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the maximum (6) wickets for India.
Indian openers Murali Vijay and Ravindra Jadeja performed brilliantly in the second innings, and India scored 342 runs in the second innings. For India, Murali Vijay scored 95 and Jadeja played a brilliant knock of 68, while Virat Kohli was dismissed for zero. India set a target of 319 runs for the hosts to win.
It is difficult for any team to reach this target in the fourth inning. The Indian bowlers once again gave a magnificent performance against England. At one stage, England lost 4 wickets for 72 runs, but after that Moeen Ali and Joe Root took over the innings. Both the players added 101 runs for the 5th wicket.
Moeen Ali became the victim of Ishant Sharma after scoring 39 runs in 147 balls. After this, the England team collapsed like a pack of cards. India bowled England out for 223 and won the match by 95 runs. Ishant Sharma, returning to the Indian team, gave the best performance of his career, taking 7 wickets. He was also awarded the Man of the Match award for his match superb performance.
