England v India: The Trent Bridge Heroes

The much awaited India vEngland 2014 series is underway.In 2011, the teams last Test series in England,India could only score 300+once in 8 innings, whereas,In 2014,they have scores of 457 and 391 already. You could blame it on the pitch at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, which was very flat and had nothing to offer to the bowlers. England played with 4 pacers and a part-time spinner in Moeen Ali, whileIndia had 3 pacers and RavindraJadeja.Despite all the action India dominatingthe first 3 days and Englands basically Joe Root and Anderson rearguard efforts, both the teams couldnt force a result.By the end, the match became so mundanethat home captainAlastair Cook decided to bowl himself, ending up getting hismaiden Test wicket withIshant Sharma being the scalp.James Anderson was chosen as the Man-of-the-Match for his heroic 81 in the first innings and 4wickets.We, here, analyse the 5 big heroes of the just concluded Trent Bridge Test.

#5 James Anderson

James Anderson, the leader of English bowling attack,is one of worlds best and arguablyEnglands finest ever. The 31-year-old accounted for wickets of Indias top 3 MuraliVijay, Shikhar Dhawan and CheteshwarPujara in the first innings and took his team out of deep waters when they were batting scoring apersonal best of81,which is the third highest score ever for a No.11 batsman. He along with Joe Root ate up Indias lead, even givingEngland a real chance at winning.

Together they put up a record-breaking 10th-wicket stand of 198 runs. 81 runs and4 wickets, all these aftera histrionic effort with the bat against Sri Lanka last month where he almost took his side to victory definitely makes him worthy of a MoM award.

Bowling figures: 38-10-123-3 and21-8-47-1