5 best overseas Test comebacks by the Indian team

#1 Lord’s, 2014

In 2014, India mainly played away from home. They played New Zealand at the start of that year and even though they lost the series 1-0, they competed brilliantly.

Then came the tour of England in July. They were humiliated 4-0 on their last tour to the UK (in 2011). However, they started the series well as they played out a draw in Nottingham.

The venue for the second test was Lord’s – a place where they hadn’t won since 1986. On a green pitch, India were put into bat and were quickly reduced to 145/7 and it looked like they would struggle to get to 200.

However, a magnificent counter-attacking 103 from Ajinkya Rahane and a calm supporting 36 from Bhuvneshwar Kumar propelled India to 295.

India started well with the ball as well. They reduced England to 70/3 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling beautifully. But a hundred from Gary Ballance (110) and an unbeaten fifty from Liam Plunkett (55*) helped England take a slender lead of 24 runs.

India started the second innings well as they were placed at 118/1. But wickets at regular intervals reduced them to 235/7. But a superb counter-attack from Ravindra Jadeja (57-ball 68) and a nice supporting fifty from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52) helped India finish with 342.

Chasing 319, England slipped 72/4 on the fourth day. However, a superb 103-run partnership between Joe Root and Moeen Ali put the hosts back on track and they looked in control. Things were going well on the fifth morning and England hadn’t lost a wicket in the first session of the final day until the last over.

With things drifting away, Dhoni and Ishant had a lengthy conversation, the pacer then bowled a barrage of bouncers to Moeen Ali and the batsman fell on the last ball before lunch. With the new ball 4 overs away, it looked like India were right back in the game.

However, to everyone’s surprise, India didn’t opt for the new ball. Instead, they continued with their short-ball tactic (which worked before lunch) and reaped the rewards. Ishant Sharma ran through the English middle and lower order to give India a famous win at Lord’s. He took 7/74 as England fell prey to his short-ball ploy to go 1-0 down in the series.

This win was India’s first Test win at Lord’s after 28 years. It was also India’s first overseas win in more than three years.

Brief Scores: India 295 (Rahane 103, Bhuvneshwar 36, Anderson 4-60, Stokes 2/40) and 342 (Vijay 95, Jadeja 68, Bhuvneshwar 52, Stokes 3/51, Plunkett 3/65) beat England 319 (Ballance 110, Plunkett 55*, Bhuvneshwar 6-82, Jadeja 2/46) and 223 (Root 66, Ali 39, Ishant 7-74, Shami 1/33)