You are tall enough; bowl bouncers: Dhoni advised Ishant and he delivered

London: You are tall enough; you have to bowl bouncers, advised MS Dhoni to Ishant Sharma. And the lanky speedster came up with a devastating spell of 7-74 in the second innings to give India a historic win against England at Lord’s as they managed to beat the hosts by 95 in the second Test at the ground after 28 years. With this win, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.

Man-of-the-match Ishant Sharma said: "Cricket is a great leveler. The way MS bhai handled the team, the way he keeps on motivating the guys, is fantastic. I think all these wickets are not for me, it is for the captain. He told me, 'you are tall enough, you have to bowl bouncers,' that's what I did and it worked for me."

In all praise for the speedster, Dhoni said it was difficult to convince Ishant to bowl short. "Ishant didn't really want to bowl short. I told him to bowl short and after he got his wicket, it gave him the confidence and he kept attacking the batsman. I think it was a fantastic performance from him," said Dhoni, terming it to be a memorable win for his team.

"It’s memorable win for us. Not many players have played Test cricket in England. Their approach was brilliant,” he said, adding that it was a very crucial toss.

“You want the opposition to bowl more than 90 overs, because once they do that it becomes slightly difficult for them even when the tailenders come as there is more tendency of committing a mistake when you are slightly more tired. The batsmen are also making sure they get out to good deliveries . Overall, the whole batting department did really well," said Dhoni.

"I think we learnt from the 2011 series that it is important to stay in the game till the third day, because then our spinners come into action. What they can do is give the bowlers ample rest, so they can come and give a hard spell of bowling. That was something that was needed. We were not able to do in 2011 series,” Dhoni said, adding that Ravindra Jadeja would have to play the same kind of cricket in rest of the series.

"Jadeja has to play that kind of game. I think the more Test cricket he plays, the better batsman he becomes. I think his technique is very good, but he is someone who doubts himself more than most. I think we have been cribbing about the lack of quick bowling all-rounder, but we have to use the resources we have," said Dhoni.

Meanwhile England skipper Alastair Cook said they were out-bowled and out-batted by India.