On this day 10 years ago in 2011, the 2000th Test match was played between India and England at Lord’s, the ‘Mecca of Cricket’. The game was filled with many milestones. It was also Zimbabwean cricketer-turned-coach Duncan Fletcher’s 100th Test match as a coach.
The encounter also bore the prospect of legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar reaching the landmark of 100 international hundreds in the ‘home of cricket’. However, to the dismay of cricket fans, Tendulkar achieved the historic feat a year later in March 2012 during an ODI match between India and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur.
The start of the Lord’s Test, burdened by many expectations, was very slow. In fact, the only play the audience saw on the first day of the match was veteran Indian seamer Zaheer Khan being dropped from the attack due to an injury. Unlike India’s pace attack a decade ago, he was not known for his fast bowling. And the removal of Zaheer from the field made India more vulnerable on the second day.
On the other hand, former England captain Kevin Pietersen found his groove in the match as he scored his first century at home in three years. He scored a double century. Pietersen was unbeaten on 202 when England declared their first innings at 474/8.
Indian pacer Praveen Kumar also joined Pietersen on the Lord’s Board of Honor after hitting a six in the first innings.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid also scored a century but he could not inspire the visitors to fight back as they lost the match by 196 runs.
India’s tour of England in 2011 was not a memorable one for the visitors as they were humiliated 4–0 in the four-match Test series.
Actually, India did not win a single match during this tour. After losing the Test series, India lost the only T20I match of the series by six wickets before losing the five-match ODI series 3–0. While one ODI game was abandoned, the other ended in a tie after poor rain.
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