Stokes jokingly reveals Archer watched highlights of Ganguly waving his jersey before delivering sizzling spell against India
London [UK], July 15 (ANI): England Test captain Ben Stokes invoked laughter and revealed that tearaway Jofra Archer watched the highlights of former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s famous jersey-waving moment on the Lord’s balcony, which served as an inspiration and fuelled him on the final day of the enthralling third Test at Lord’s.
In his first Test appearance since February 2021, Archer blew away India’s hopes of victory in a whisker. Within the blink of an eye, he rattled Rishabh Pant’s top of the off-stump with a searing delivery to set the tempo of the day. Pant failed to grasp the rocket that Archer unleashed from his loaded arsenal.
He continued to run rampant and lured Washington Sundar to push the ball back into his hands and return for a duck. He finished the second innings with figures of 3/55 as England ended Ravindra Jadeja and India’s tail-end’s hard-fought resistance to relish a 22-run victory at the ‘Home of Cricket’.
Stokes was quizzed about Archer’s sizzling performance and added a touch of humour with his fancy reply. He revealed that Archer saw Ganguly’s iconic moment that unfolded 23 years ago. ‘Dada’ waved his shirt on the Lord’s balcony, an iconic scene from India’s memorable NatWest final win in 2002 over England.
“I just said to him this morning, I said, ‘You know what today is, don’t you? And it was that highlight package from when India knocked off 300-odd back in the day, when Ganguly, he thought that was a World Cup final as well. He thought that was six years today. Genuine. And I was like, no, that World Cup that we won, he was like, oh, that one. Gosh, he’s an absolute beauty, that boy," Stokes told reporters in the post-match press conference.
The date July 14 holds special significance for English cricket and its fans. On the same day in 2019, England lifted their maiden ODI World Cup title at the ‘Home of Cricket’. Fast forward six years, England felt euphoria after five days of hard work, grit and resilience.
On the final day, the equation remained simple: England needed six wickets to cross the line while India stood 135 runs shy of chasing the 193-run target and taking a firm grip on the series. Archer and Stokes bowl in tandem to reduce the beleaguered India from 58/4 to 82/7.
Despite the odds stacked against India, Ravindra Jadeja (61*) battled with his sheer class and kept the contest alive by stitching up a valuable stand with Jasprit Bumrah. The duo withstood England for 22 overs before Bumrah holed it to Sam Cook. Mohammed Siraj kept India alive with everything he had in his batting arsenal before enduring a heartbreak after getting bowled by Bashir. (ANI)
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