Bowling in the conditions that are laid out when the Indian team tours to England and vice versa, re enjoyed especially the Indian bowlers a lot. In history, there have been many instances where a visiting Indian side has had bowlers doing exceptionally well with the ball in hand, also when the England team has come to India, and have got their names etched in the history books and the minds of the cricket fans. So, here we will have a look at 5 such performances of Indian bowlers against the English batsmen.
1. Zaheer Khan – Nottingham, 2007
Probably one of the Indian bowlers, who could bowl really fast deliveries, the country had seen before the arrival of Jasprit Bumrah and the later lot, Zaheer Khan in the truest sense was the backbone of the Indian bowling line up back in the day. And, doing justice in the best way possible to the duty to lead the Indian bowling attack, Zaheer bowled extremely well in both the innings of the first match.
In the first inning of the game, he dismissed a total of 4 batsmen, including the likes of Andre Strauss, Michael Vaughn, and Ian Bell, all of whom were important to England’s bowling attack. He then followed it up with and even better bowling performance in the second inning of the game, where he took a 5 wicket haul and helped India defeat the English men in Nottingham.
2. Ishant Sharma – Lord’s, 2014
This performance at the ‘Home of cricket’ back in the year 2014, which helped the Indian team win their 1st match in the venue ever in a span of 28 years, made Ishant Sharma an unmovable name in the cricket history books. It all unfolded during the last inning of the match, where England needed 319 runs to win, and looked to be strong in their proceedings in this tournament.
One of the most striking characters of Ishant’s bowling here was that he effectively used short bowls, as the England batters fell like Dominos one after the other. The first big wicket for Ishant was Ian Bell and after that, there was no looking back. And, at the end of the inning, Ishant had delivered one of the best performances of his career and got his name etched in the history books for being one of the few Indian bowlers to get their names put up on the Lord’s honour board.
3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – Lord’s, 2014
In the same game where Ishant Sharma was spitting fire with his short balls, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had troubled the England batsmen in their first inning, setting the tone for India at the start of the game, which they would eventually go on to win. He made the full use of his ability to swing the balls in the pace bowling paradise of a venue, which was Lord’s.
The Indian team, after their batting inning were in a tough spot after scoring just 295 runs in the first inning, Bhuvi took it upon himself to set the stage for the Indian team. He scrambled through the first 4 batters of the England bowling attack, he went on to follow it up with more wickets and ended his run in the inning, with 6 wickets while giving away 38 runs, also registering his name on the Lord’s prestigious honour board.
4. Anil Kumble – Headingley, 2002
A performance which would be remembered by every 90s kid of India who had an interest in cricket, and anyone else who followed cricket at the time, and have seen clips of this spell, Anil Kumble was the man behind all of this. His process of tormenting the England batsmen started off in the England first inning where he took 3 wickets, cleaned out the tail of the English batting attack and restricted their total to 273 runs.
In the second inning, he bettered his numbers and took as many as 4 wickets, while giving away just 66 runs. And, the players whom he dismissed were, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain, after whose departure, the Englishmen could not hold on as India went on to win the game, where the last wicket was taken by the hero of the team, Anil Kumble.
