Emotions ran high when they targeted Jimmy in the first innings: Chris Silverwood
England head coach Chris Silverwood recently gave his opinion on the tussle between Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson during the Lord's Test. Tensions reached a boiling point on Day Five when England's bowlers responded with hostility at the Indian tailenders.
The repeated short-pitched bowling, including a few blows at their bodies, provoked verbal wars between the two teams. Chris Silverwood admitted that emotions erupted when Jasprit Bumrah kept targeting James Anderson with short-pitched deliveries in the first innings.
The on-field tussle got Virat Kohli fired up at the dressing room during India's second innings. Later, the Indian captain stated that the incident motivated the team to go for the win.
According to Silverwood, Anderson becoming Indian bowlers' target forced England to get back at them. Silverwood claimed the incident pushed them to go hard on the visitors. The 46-year old also lauded the bowling unit's performance on day four. Speaking to Cricbuzz, Chris Silverwood said:
"Emotions ran high, there's no doubt about it. I mean, obviously, they targeted Jimmy (Anderson) in that first innings. And we went back hard at them as well, we tried to go toe-to-toe with them. The one thing I will say is that the competition was created with what happened to him. We put a lot of fire in our belly for Day 4 as well."
Silverwood added:
"I thought for a lot of Day 4, the way we stuck at our task, was absolutely fantastic with the ball. So you know I mean, we can use that fuel to real positive intent as well. And maybe it just got away a little bit with us, obviously, when the lower order was in but we'll learn from that."
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami stitched a match-winning unbroken stand
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami did not get bogged down by the English bowlers' hostility. They weathered the early storm and added 89 runs before Virat Kohli declared.
England, chasing 272 in 60 overs, could not recover from losing two wickets in the same number of overs. They were eventually bundled out for 120. Bumrah and Shami shared four victims between them to contribute to India's 151-run win.