London [UK], July 18 : Ex-England cricketers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton drew an interesting comparison between the ongoing India tour of England and the iconic 2005 Ashes Test series against Australia, noting that the series seems "evenly matched" as far as teams are concerned, with a "bit of tension and still all to play for" during the remainder of two Tests.
The ongoing series is 2-1 in favour of England, with two more matches left. The fourth Test will be India's chance to level the series. The finish of the Lord's Test, which saw Mohammed Siraj down on his haunches following an extremely unlucky dismissal and being consoled by English players, was quite similar to a show of respect between Andrew Flintoff and Aussie pacer Brett Lee back in 2005 at Edgbaston, when the latter was left stranded, two runs short of the winning score after Michael Kasprowicz was removed by Steve Harmison while chasing 282 runs. After a loss in the first Test, England drew the series with that win and brought back the Ashes urn back home for the first time since 1987 under Michael Vaughan's leadership.
With the Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval coming up, the excitement is only going up.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Podcast, Hussain said, "You have got it as the next 2005 Ashes. It was just like Edgbaston. You have gone on about how you and Richie [Benaud] were great in the commentary box and called every moment brilliantly."
England was extremely calm and calculated despite the Ravindra Jadeja threat and unbelievable resistance from tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, with the duo supporting Jadeja by playing 84 balls collectively while pursuing 193 runs. India had slipped to 82/7 and then 112/8 after fiery spells from Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes in the first session of the final day.
Siraj managed to middle the ball by Shoaib Bashir perfectly, but the ball landed on the surface and rolled back slowly to the stumps despite Siraj trying to prevent that, marking an extremely heartbreaking end to a commendable fightback. After his dismissal, Siraj, completely distraught, was down on his knees, struggling to comprehend his dismissal. His fight back was lauded by English players, with some players coming to laud him through a handshake or a pat on his back.
Atherton said, "Well, actually, there was a similarity that struck me when Siraj went down on his haunches at the end and [Zak] Crawley and [Joe] Root, initially, and then others came over to shake his hand. There were some similarities."
"I was only talking about it a bit because it is 20 years (since the Ashes series win), is not it? We are right on the anniversary of that unbelievable '05 series, but there's a little bit of that. We have had a lot of good test series since then. But this is shaping up to be one of the better ones, you know, the teams seem very evenly matched. They are led by very contrasting characters."
"There's now a bit of tension and a bit of niggle in the series and still all to play for," he concluded.
There were multiple instances of tensions in the match, notably on day three, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett trying to waste as much time as possible to make sure that only one over from Jasprit Bumrah was all they had to face before stumps. In response, the Indian players showed their aggression and surrounded the batters, even going to blurt out some expletives. On the fourth day, pacer Siraj aggressively celebrated Ben Duckett by screaming on his face and brushing off shoulders with each other.
Hussain said that he "loved that tension" and expressed that Siraj is better when fired up.
"The fact that we are still talking about it and the fact that one over was one of the highlights of the Test match, the way India went at Crawley (for wasting time). They were very street smart in the way they slowly walked down the stairs and pretended to get lost in the long room and got out to the middle. They were smart, and India rightly went after them. And that obviously fired everyone up, and then Siraj was fired up."
"I think Siraj is a better cricketer when he is fired up. You would love to have Siraj in your side. I did not think he should have been fined (for contact with Duckett and his aggressive celebration). He went close to the line. He was right in Duckett's face. He did not barge Duckett. If anything, Duckett went in that direction to get off the pitch. If there was a shoulder barge, as there has been with [Virat] Kohli (with Sam Konstas back during Australia this year) you mentioned at the end of the game the other day, but it was not."
"I think it is a game of emotion and you do not need 22 robots. I love that tension. We play with people who don't give it out because they know they are going to get it when they go out to bat. If you give it out, you are going to get it when you go out to bat," he continued.
To this, Atherton replied, "England kind of were fired up (on the final day with explosive spells from Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes), but also that is going to now play out for the rest of the series, which is the beauty of a five-test match series that allows kind of subplots and personal rivalries and animosities to develop. You get a sense of it, but they would not be forgetting what was said on the field."