Victory in second Test match is a huge milestone for Indian cricket – Zaheer Khan

On a dramatic and highly charged Day 5 marked by numerous verbal clashes between players, the Indians skittled out England for 120 in less than two sessions to win the second test by 151 runs on Monday and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Set 272 to win in 60 overs after a declaration by India on 298-8 just after lunch, England never intended to chase that victory target but performed hopelessly in defending it.

Both openers, Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, were out for 0 — the first time that has happened to England at home in 143 years of test cricket — while Jonny Bairstow and captain Joe Root, the prized wicket, fell in the overs either side of tea.

Sam Curran then suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first player to succumb to a king pair — two golden ducks — in the same test match at Lord’s.

Jos Buttler curbed his natural attacking instincts to lead a rearguard effort with a 96-ball 25, helped by a stubborn 35-ball knock by Ollie Robinson.

The pair was together for 12 overs and England just had to survive another the final 10 overs, but Robinson’s dismissal — he was trapped lbw by a clever slower ball by Jasprit Bumrah — was the beginning of the end.

In the next over, Siraj enticed a nick behind from Buttler to end his 2 1/2-hour vigil and Jimmy Anderson was the last man out, clean-bowled three balls later as Siraj recorded figures of 4-32. England had been knocked over inside 52 overs and, after staving off what looked to be a likely defeat after a half-hour of play in a fractious morning session, India celebrated just a third test win at the home of cricket.

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan lauded Virat Kohli-led team. According to him, nobody would have imagined India to come back and win the match.

“Even on the fourth day evening you wouldn’t have imagined the match would turn out to be like this. The way they have come back, I think this Test will be talked about for many days. A memorable Test and you get to see these sorts of comebacks very rarely,” Zaheer said.

He further praised Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah for their partnership.

“Everyone was hoping that Pant would stay for a long period. But the way Shami and Bumrah made that partnership, India were dictating the game after that. And then just brilliant bowling. The entire team came together on the field and wanted to win it. You could see that from everyone’s body language. Whoever watched this match, I don’t think they would have enjoyed a Test match as much as this. This victory is a huge milestone for India,” he added.