Considering the visitors have won two of their last three Test matches at the iconic venue and given they are on a high after conquering Edgbaston, Shubman Gill & Co will be raring to go for a 2-1 series lead here
India players during a training session at Lord’s in London yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
The ultimate desire of a cricketer is to play a Test match at the iconic Lord’s stadium. Nothing thrills a player more than to get his name on the board of all those players who have scored a century or taken five wickets here, especially in a winning cause. Jasprit Bumrah, who will play only three of the five games on the tour, chose to skip Birmingham so that he could play the third Test at Lord’s against England, beginning on Thursday and nothing would thrill him more than to get his name etched on the board alongside all the legends who have bagged five wickets in an innings here.
Gill excited to be at Lord’s
Indian captain Shubman Gill, after leading his team to a huge win in the previous game in Birmingham, is excitedly looking forward to captaining the side at the historic venue, which hosted the first ever Test in 1884. It is quite unique that Gill will play his first game here as a captain. No wonder he is doubly thrilled.
After the win at Edgbaston, Gill had said: “I am very excited that I would be playing at Lord’s. Probably it is the most iconic cricket stadium in the world. And as a kid, everyone dreams about playing there. And I think there is no bigger honour than to be able to captain your country and lead the team [to victory] there.”
It is well documented that India played their first ever Test match at Lord’s in 1932, almost 15 years before Independence. Though India had lost that game, it had started the journey that has now taken Indian cricket gradually to great heights and is one of the top and richest cricketing nations.
India’s previous struggles
The importance of Lord’s can be gauged from the fact that on each of their previous 19 Test tours, India have played a game here, never giving the venue a miss. Though India were not successful initially, losing their first six Test matches here [1932, 1936, 1946, 1952, 1959 and 1967], it was not until 1971 [their first ever series win in England] that they were able to draw a game at Lord’s. Their first win came here in 1986 under Kapil Dev when they had won the three-match series 2-0. India’s two other wins at Lord’s are more recent, in 2014 and then the last time they had played here in 2021, beating England by 151 runs. Of the 19 matches between the two, India have won only thrice, drawn four times, and lost on 12 occasions. India would surely like to improve their record at Lord’s, which in all likelihood would host a ‘special’ Test match in 2032, to mark the centenary of the start of the cricket relations between the two countries.
In the current team only, KL Rahul’s name is on the board. He had played a superb hand of 129 when India had won the game by an innings and 151 runs in 2021. Mohammed Siraj had narrowly missed the cut by bagging four wickets in each innings. Bumrah’s figures were 0-79 and 3-33 and he would surely like to improve his record here this time around and also help India take lead in the series.
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