London: Some fine display of batting by India's lower order, including Mohammed Shami (56) and Jasprit Bumrah (34), in the second innings, followed by some superb bowling from India's pace attack, namely Mohammed Siraj (4/32) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/33) helped India beat England by 151 runs at Lord's to take 1-0 lead in the 5-match Test series.
Speaking about India's fantastic win at the Mecca of cricket, India captain Virat Kohli said he was super proud of the whole team. "The way we stuck to our plans, being put in our performance with the bat was outstanding. Pitch didn't offer much on first three days. But the way we played in the second innings under pressure (Jasprit and Shami) was outstanding."
"We thought with 60 overs to go we could have a crack, and they were outstanding. A bit of tension on the field really motivated us to finish the game. Wanted to let them know that we appreciated what they did, and they took the new ball and made breakthroughs for us. When we were most successful, our lower order was contributing, we went away from that a bit away from home but they are putting in the hard work with the coaches. The belief and the desire is there, to do the job for the team," said the skipper.
"Last time the victiry at Lord's was special, Ishant bowled outstandingly. But this one, to get a result in 60 overs, is quite special. With someone like Siraj playing at Lord's for the first time and bowling as he did was outstanding. We decided 60 was our mark, crucial breakthroughs were great for us and we carried on from there. In the second half of the day, we thought we were on top and our fans got behind us. We feed off the energy of the crowd as well. On Independence Day, this is the best gift we can give to India. But we have three more Test matches and we can't sit on our laurels," added Kohli.
Meanwhile England skipper Joe Root said a lot of cricket was still to be played and they would come back hard. "You're always trying to find ways to deal with things like that, we couldn't see out the day which was frustrating but a lot of cricket to play and we'll come back hard. Tactically we could have done things differently - we went from a position where we could win to being behind," said Root.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul, Player of the Match said, " Really happy that the hundred could set up a victory for India. Put into bat we had to go out and give the team a good start and put up a total, the opening partnership was really crucial. We've been here for couple of months, been working hard on our skills. At Trent Bridge we showed discipline, really pleased and happy we could go out and put up a performance like that."
