Shami, Bumrah in the forefront of India's come-from-behind win

Led by the all-round display of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, India made a stunning comeback on the final day of the Lord's Test and eventually downed England to register a 151-run win on Monday. The duo's counter-attacking unbeaten 89-run partnership followed by a combined four wickets of the English top-order batsmen paved the way for India's win in a tightly-fought contest.

The margin of victory doesn't paint the perfect picture, especially since the match was evenly fought for most parts of the five days - with the momentum swinging every other hour till Lunch on Day 5.

Post Lunch though, India stamped their dominance.

Only nine balls into the session, in which they picked up three boundaries, India declared the innings setting England a tough but not an impossible target of 272 to chase.

However, even before the hosts could settle in and assess their plans, Bumrah and Shami dismissed an opener each - both Rory Burns and Dom Sibley falling for ducks. Haseeb Hameed, England's No 3, couldn't make much of the life offered to him while batting on 4 - when Rohit Sharma dropped a regulation catch at slip. Having scored a duck on his return innings to Test cricket, he was pinged leg before on 9 in the second essay by Ishant Sharma.

The lanky pacer then went on to ping Jonny Bairstow as well on his pads at the stroke of Tea and leave England reeling at 67 for 4. If not for the over zealous Indian pacers who sprayed the ball all around the pitch at times, conceding 17 byes, England's scorecard would've made for a much poorer viewing.

Yet again, it was left on the England captain to bail out his team.

Even as the Indian pacers were threatening the other batters with the new ball, Joe Root looked composed during the course of his stay. But soon after Tea, he too fell to the bait outside off and edged Bumrah to slips. His dismissal paved the way for England's collapse.

Jos Buttler, in the company of Moeen Ali attempted to provide resistance but it proved too little Mohammad Siraj, who had picked four wickets in the first innings, ran through the lower order. For the second time in the match, the pacer picked two wickets off successive deliveries to break into the English lower order. Both the batsmen - Moeen Ali and Sam Curran - went poking at angling away deliveries and were caught; Curran returning a king pair.

Buttler was England's lone hope to stretch the match deep enough in their attempt for a possible draw. However, in the 52nd over, he became the last of England's batsman to fiddle with a delivery outside off and getting caught behind. With the ninth wicket down, England's No 10 and 11 were left to play out 52 balls. It was a tough ask, and they managed to last only four of those. Siraj breached through Anderson's defense and knocked over his stumps. England were bowled out for 120.

At the start of the day's play though, the onus was on India to avoid a possible defeat. For that to happen though, a lot rode on Rishabh Pant, the only batter to go with India's long tail that began with No 8 Ishant Sharma. With England starting out the proceedings with the second new ball, Pant's approach was critical. He chose to back his natural attacking instincts by power-punching James Anderson for a boundary through the covers in the third over of the day. However, Ollie Robinson cut short his innings in the next over, with a delivery angling away from him. Pant, looking to defend it, got the outside and was caught by the 'keeper, reducing India to 194 for 7.

Ishant Sharma, the other overnight batter, was trapped legbefore soon after and India stood with a lead 182 with only two wickets remaining. For the visitors, there was too much time to bide in the day and not enough technical prowess with the last three. However, the decision to take James Anderson out of the attack early worked in India's favour.

Even as Mark Wood brought extra pace, Shami and Bumrah's counter attack proved effective to throw England on the backfoot. The hosts also wasted a good deal of deliveries with the new ball on peppering the duo with short balls instead of attacking the stumps. Even as the duo didn't slog at everything coming their way, they were quick to pick on scoring opportunities, even as their swinging bat didn't always take the ball to the planned region. To their luck, several edges even flew in vacant areas. But most importantly, the lead swelled up quickly.

With the more unconventional plans not working out, Root introduced Moeen Ali into the attack, to bowl with the hard and shiny ball. The offspinner provided ample flight and teased the batsmen to for the big shots. Shami accepted the bait and hit a few boundaries and sixes to help India surge further ahead. He even brought his second Test half-century with a slog for a six. India picked 105 runs in the morning session, before stroking three boundaries in nine balls post Lunch before declaring.

The unbeaten 89-run partnership between Bumrah and Shami for the ninth wicket not only proved to be the killer blow to England's desire to push for a win, but also put India in a position to be on the aggressive in the last two sessions of the day.

Brief Scores: India 364 (KL Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83; James Anderson 5-62, Ollie Robinson 2-73) & 298/8 decl. (KL Rahul 61, Mohammed Shami 56*; Mark Wood 3-51, Ollie Robinson 2-41) lead England 391 (Joe Root 180*, Jonny Bairstow 57; Mohammad Siraj 4-94, Ishant Sharma 3-69) & 120 (Joe Root 33; Mohammad Siraj 4-32, Jasprit Bumrah 3-33) by 151 runs