India slumped to their lowest total at Lord’s in the last 40 years, a meagre 107, after rain had disrupted play twice on day two. Incidentally, the rain completed more sessions than the entire Indian batting line-up, who needed just one to pack themselves – the final session after rain had washed away the earlier two.
They did play six and a half overs in the morning and lost both the openers to James Anderson, who would wreak havoc later in the day with three more scalps to complete his sixth 5-fer at the home of cricket. He remains just one shy of 100 Test wickets at the venue and if India does bat again, the 36-year-old may just become the second bowler after Muttiah Muralitharan to do so.
India though will not want 100 wickets, but just 10 from their bowlers when they step out on the third day. The visitors have made two changes, with Shikhar Dhawan and Umesh Yadav making way for Cheteshwar Pujara and Kuldeep Yadav.
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In Dhawan’s absence, Rahul was promoted up the order but failed to deliver. He mastered just eight off 14 balls before nicking an outside-off ball straight into Jonny Bairstow’s hands from the bowling of Anderson, who just fifth ball into the match uprooted Murali Vijay’s off-stump.
Anderson was brilliant in both of his spells but it was Chris Woakes, bowling in between those two spells, who got the prized scalp of Virat Kohli (23), then dismissed Hardik Pandya (11). Filling in the shoes for Ben Stokes, the 29-year-old gave England the missing piece.
For all his pre-hyped battle with Anderson, Kohli never really looked troubled against the greatest modern-day swinger of the ball. He missed quite a few and was lucky not to edge another few but after that first inning at Edgbaston, the World NO.1 batsman has successfully seen-off the threat of Anderson. In stepped Woakes. The Birmingham born all-rounder has had repeated in-and-outs in the England team for his poor form abroad and a tinge better at home. But Lord’s was different.
Here, in three matches Woakes has 15 wickets to his name and on Friday he once again showed why just so. He tempted both Kohli and Pandya into playing exuberant cover-drives with full-length balls that had a late movement away from the batsmen. The Indian skipper survived the first over, nicking twice but with soft hands, that kept the ball low and dropped before reaching debutant Oliver Pope.
All he could manage was two more edges in the second over, one flying past the diving hand of Jos Buttler and the very next one coming straight into him at second slip.
Pandya perished the same way. Trying a glory shot twice in two balls that was a repeat telecast of Kohli’s dismissal, only change here was that the shot was different. Pandya’s first nick again escaped Buttler, while the second came low and clung into his palms.
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Sam Curran chipped in with one wicket by dismissing Dinesh Karthik (1) off the edge before Anderson came and cleaned up the tail. The biggest disappoint of the English bowling line-up Stuart Broad also got a wicket after trapping Ravichandran Ashwin (29) plumb in front of the stumps.
Things however never seemed this disastrous when first Kohli and Pujara (1) and then Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane (18) were together. Back into the side after being left out in the opening test defeat, Pujara looked dogged to stuck-in the crease with only resistance and no shot. In the end, he was undone by his own captain, who called and then retreated, leaving Pujara to watch the sight of Pope jogging into the stumps and knocking the bails off.
Then with Rahane, who has cherished memories of Lord’s, the Indian captain started to rebuild the innings under tough conditions. But couldn’t replicate his heroics from Edgbaston, where he almost single-handedly dragged India to a victory. He fell for 23 and with him – as has become the norm – felled the rest.