Second Test, day 5 moment of the day: Tall man’s short attack

Bhavneet Singh 23:56 21/07/2014
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  • Match winner: Ishant Sharma led his India side to victory superbly.

    India had started the day in the hunt of six good deliveries.

    That is all they needed to get their first win at Lord’s in 28 years.

    After what the pitch had done in the last session of the fourth day, the stakes were high and looked like India would be over the finish line by lunch.

    But Joe Root and Moeen Ali had different plans.

    They hung in there for the near entirity of the session; defending with their lives, rotating the strike whenever possible, hitting the bad ball to the boundary and, most of all, keeping England in the game.

    While these two were taking the match away from India, MS Dhoni was plotting the end of the partnership in his head.

    Ishant Sharma came on to bowl the last over before lunch and instantly started banging the ball in halfway down the track and with the final delivery before lunch, the course of the match was changed.

    Sharma dug another one in, rushing Ali and his feeble defensive jab was held by Cheteshwar Pujara and all of England's fine work had been undone.

    This was just the beginning and it looked like Dhoni had found the magic mantra.

    His giant quick kept running in after lunch and wicket after wicket kept falling.

    Matt Prior, Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Stuart Broad all fell to the short ball as England capitulated and India surged to victory.

    They knew the plot, they could see it coming, but poor shot selection and Sharma's efforts meant the England batsmen had no reply.

    Sharma ended with career best figures of 7-74 and also bagged the Man of the Match award for his efforts.

    In the end, what mattered is that one moment before lunch that turned the match on its head.

    If it wasn't for the wicket of Ali, it might have been a different story.

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