England vs India, 2nd Test: 5 Unnoticed things from the match

After a dismal show with the bat in the first match at Edgbaston, Indians were expected to bounce back in the second Test at Lord’s. Bowlers had a decent outing but it was the batters who were under the firing lane for showing the lack of intent and the promise to play against the moving ball.

But, the story didn’t seem to change for the visitors as they stumbled their way to their fourth-lowest total at Lord’s in the first innings. It is also a fact that England had a bit of luck in their favour as they got the conditions in their favour both while batting and bowling.

After being down by a lead of 289 runs, India could just manage to score 130 runs in the second innings and suffered a defeat by an innings and 159 runs. With this, England took a very healthy lead of 2-0 in the 5-match Test series making it much difficult for the visitors to stage a comeback.

Let’s take a look at some of the things that went Unnoticed from the match:

#1 Hardik Pandya sent ahead of Dinesh Karthik

India chose to stick to their five specialist batsmen policy along with a genuine all-rounder in Hardik Pandya. In the first Test, Dinesh Karthik was trusted by the team management and was sent at the fall of the fourth wicket ahead of Hardik Pandya. But the move didn’t pay many dividends as Kartik failed to get going in any of the first innings.

The management resorted to different plans to make the batting order more flexible as Hardik Pandya was seen batting in at the sixth, ahead of one of his best friends in the team. However, the team didn’t show enough promise but Pandya’s batting in the 2nd innings gave India the belief to play him in the Test matches to follow.