Harry Brook, the star batsman for England, thinks that their exciting victory was greatly influenced by the Indian players’ hard work against Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley at the end of the third day of the third Test at Lord’s. On the third evening, the England openers stepped out to bat for seven minutes after the two teams had leveled the score with 387 runs in their respective first innings.
However, as is common in such situations, Crawley used time-wasting tactics to reduce the number of overs faced, much to the displeasure of the Indian players. After a heated argument between captain Shubman Gill and the England opener, Jasprit Bumrah’s lone over was the only one to be bowled.
In their defense of 193 on Day 5, the hosts gained momentum from the incident and bowled India out for 170.
During the pre-fourth Test press conference, Brook responded to the following question regarding the tense moments between the players of both sides at Lord’s (via Revsportz YouTube channel):
“We try and play in the spirit of the game as much as possible. Their lads went hard at Crawley and Duckett on that night when Bumrah bowled that single over. We watched that and we reassessed, and we thought this is the right time to give it back to them.”
Harry Brook
He added:
“We saw them guys going at Crawley and Duckett, so we had a little chat, and we thought ‘We are a team, so we may as well combine with each other and get together and give it back to them.’ It looked like there was 11 vs 2 out there when we were fielding, and it was good fun. It was tiring, but it made fielding a lot more enjoyable.”
Harry Brook
The 22-run victory at Lord’s propelled England to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
“They Ended Up Crumbling” – Harry Brook on India’s Failed Run-Chase at Lord’s
Harry Brook thinks that India’s run chase on the last day at Lord’s was made more difficult by the hostility between the teams. On the morning of Day 5, the visitors’ hitters lost to 82/7, despite chasing under 200 and putting on outstanding batting displays for the majority of the series.
However, India avoided humiliation thanks to a valiant 61* from Ravindra Jadeja and crucial assistance from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
“It put them under a little bit more pressure chasing a low score on a tough pitch. It might have given them a bit of added pressure, and thankfully, they ended up crumbling and we won the game.”
Harry Brook
Team India has to win the fourth Test in Manchester, which begins on July 23, to save the series after falling behind 1-2.
