LONDON: A bowler with commendable pace is something India has often missed, especially in overseas Test matches.
At Lord’s, there was a point in England’s first-innings when the second new ball was sent down at about 118kmph. So, with lunch in sight on the final day, with Joe Root and Moeen Ali well set and the ball 75 overs old, short-ball problems would have been the last thing on the batsmen’s minds.
That is when MS Dhoni demanded his most experienced bowler, Ishant Sharma, use his 6’ 4” frame and test the batsmen with a few short ones.
Fourteen overs and several Ishant bouncers later, he had his best figures - 7 for 74 - and India had their first away Test win in three years.
“That last over before lunch, Ishant didn’t really want to bowl short, I was like, ‘you have to bowl it,’ I turned the other way round,” Dhoni said after the game.
“He got his wicket and then it gave him the confidence to keep bowling short, keep attacking the batsman. I think it was a fantastic performance.”
Ishant confirmed the same, as he received his Man-of-the-Match award.
“I think all these wickets are not for me, it is for the captain,” he said.
“He told me ,’you are tall enough, you have to bowl the bouncer,’ that’s what I did and it worked for me.”
Dhoni said India had learned the importance of not giving up from their experiences on their previous tour to England, which ended in a 4-0 whitewash for the visitors.
“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, but we were not able to do in 2011 series.
“(England’s batting in the) first session today showed us that we had to be at our best, at that point what happens is you start doubting yourself.” AGENCIES
