Stuart Broad's top 3 performances in Tests against India

England pacer Stuart Broad is celebrating his 37th birthday today (June 24). The veteran seamer finds himself in an elite league of bowlers who have scalped more than 500 wickets in Test cricket.

Broad has been leading the English pace attack for several years now, along with James Anderson. He made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2007. Since then, he has picked up 588 Test wickets, including 20 five-wicket hauls.

You can understand Broad's passion for cricket and the desire to contribute to his team's wins from the fact that even now, he seeks to hone his skills.

Stuart Broad claimed in April that he had invented a mystery outswinger in order to get Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith in the upcoming Ashes. Little did anyone know that he meant business.

Smith and Labuschagne have been a little troubled by technical deficiencies and uncertainty regarding their off-stump. Broad bowled 'top-of-off wobble-seam, surprise outswinger' to them. It pitched in line to make them play, but then shaped away to take the edges for England to dismiss the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked batsmen in the world.

Along with the old enemy Australia, Stuart Broad also likes to bowl to the Indian team. Against them, he has scalped 74 wickets in just 24 matches at an average of 28.51 and an SR of 59.11.

On that note, let's look at some of his best performances against India and wish him a very happy birthday.

---

#3 4/33 against India, Visakhapatnam, 2016

Stuart Broad managed to get a four-fer even on an unsympathetic pitch in India

It was a lion-hearted effort from the English bowler to bring England back into the game at Vizag, on a pitch which had no help for fast bowlers whatsoever.

It was a placid batting surface on which Indian batsmen piled up 455 runs in their first innings, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli scoring centuries.

However, a brave fifer from Ravichandran Ashwin saw that England could only muster 255 runs. It needed English bowlers to bowl out of their skin to bring England into the game. And who better than Stuart Broad to do this?

He displayed some great new ball bowling, pitching it up alongside bowling onto the fourth and fifth stump lines to the Indian batsmen. To this, the home team's batsmen didn't have any answers.

He was on a roll and broke the backbone of a strong Indian line-up, scalping Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, and Ravichandran Ashwin. This helped bundle out the Indians for just 204 runs.

Though his effort went in vain as India won the match, Broad showed that he can turn up the heat even on pitches with no help for seamers.

---

#2 6/46 and 64 & 44 against India, Nottingham, 2011

Stuart Broad ran through the Indian lower order in this stunning performance

England were struggling when, in reply to their first innings total of 221, which itself was achieved thanks to a fighting knock of 64 from Broad, India were well placed at 267/4. Rahul Dravid (117) and Yuvraj Singh (62) had bailed out their team from a precarious situation of 139/4.

England were looking for an inspirational spell to prevent India from taking a monumental lead in their first innings.

Brought back into the attack, Stuart Broad did exactly what the doctor ordered. He just demolished the Indian batting, propelling India to collapse to 288 all-out, losing their last 6 wickets for only 21 runs, with Broad picking up 5 of those. This spell included a hat-trick as well.

He finished with a memorable spell of 6/46, from which India never recovered and lost the plot not only in this Test but also for the rest of the series.

---

#1 6/25 against India, Manchester, 2014

Stuart Broad walking off after his six-wicket effort

England were ruthless in the 2014 home series against India after performing badly in the first two Tests and conceding a 1-0 lead in the 5-match contest.

At Manchester, where fast bowlers were getting enough seam and swing, Indian bowlers let England score 367 runs by bowling some wayward lengths.

However, England, and especially Broad, didn't repeat the mistakes of Indian bowlers and bowled in the right channel. They created enough doubts in their minds about whether to play on the front foot or go back.

Stuart Broad took six wickets in the first innings, dismissing India for just 152 runs. This set the stage for a comprehensive win for the hosts.