ON THIS DAY
Follow UsHistory has always been very evident that success relied heavily on brute intent and aggression. Hence, the often asked question about “Can winners be nice guys?” has thrown modern society into quite a conundrum.
Former India captain Virat Kohli, however, is among the few who doesn’t carry a dwindling moral compass. His philosophy has always been simple - Win at all cost.
Hence, when the on-field microphone caught Virat Kohli’s words in the team huddle, it did make everyone sit up straight. It roughly translated to, “Koi bhi mujhe unke players haste huye dikh gya to dekhlena…For 60 overs they should feel like hell out there."
Motivational speeches are common in team huddles but very few strike a chord that reverberates throughout an entire nation. England needed to survive just 60-odd overs for a draw and 271 runs to win the match, but Indian cricket fans all over the world were now optimistic about a very distinct possibility - India wrapping up England within 60 overs on their home turf.
A cricket match has always been a war for captain Kohli, where he just wanted to win. Widely regarded as one of the best Test captains in the modern era, Kohli believed that his aggression could win everything on the field. How else could one justify India’s best spinner Ravichandran Ashwin carrying drinks as Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jaspirt Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj having a go at English batsmen?
The four-pronged Indian pace attack undoubtedly had talent; what they needed was temperament. No one expected a purist like Bumrah to bowl relentlessly at body length or a tactician like Shami, who used bouncer only to surprise batsmen, to try and target the heads of English batsmen. But, all of these things happened on August 16, 2021, at Lord’s.
After England had taken a slim 27-run lead in answer to India’s first innings total of 364 runs, the visitors were staring at a second-inning batting collapse that has always been so characteristic of them. However, fate had something else planned and England’s tactics further helped India’s cause. Shami and Bumrah forged an unusual 90-run stand to give England a competitive target with less than a day’s play remaining.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley couldn’t survive 10 balls jointly, as Bumrah and Shami showed them the way, respectively, in the first two overs. As soon as English captain Joe Root started to build a partnership with Haseed Hameed, Ishant Sharma sent the latter packing in the 16th over.
Though England still had the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali in their ranks, who were more than capable of not just seeing off the game but also winning it, nothing seemed to work at Lord’s that day.
Kohli’s lionized pace general Siraj ransacked the English middle-order of Bairstow, Buttler and Curran, while Bumrah won the game of chess against Root and England were 120/9 even before they knew it. The clip of England royalty James Andreson seeing his off stump go haywire off a Siraj delivery and the bowler running away with a stump in his hand will remain iconic forever.
Player of the Match KL Rahul had perfectly summed up the dressing room unity post-match, “We don't mind a bit of banter, but if you go after one of our guys all eleven will come right back. That got us going, and the bowlers were really pumped to go out and have a crack.”
