ENG vs IND: Jofra Archer drew inspiration from Sourav Ganguly's shirt-waving moment at the Lord's from 2002, reveals Ben Stokes

Jofra Archer clinched a three-wicket haul in second innings of the Lord’s test.

The England Cricket Team skipper Ben Stokes revealed why Jofra Archer was fired up during the Lord’s test against the Indian Cricket Team. He said that the pacer drew inspiration from Sourav Ganguly’s shirt-waving moment from 2002. The hosts won the third game of the series by 22 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

India had a target of 193 runs in the second innings. However, England bowled them out for 170 runs to win the encounter. England pacer Jofra Archer played a crucial role with the ball, taking a three-wicket haul in the second innings.

On day five, Archer picked two crucial wickets of Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar in the first session, which set the platform for England’s victory in the encounter. Notably, Archer made a comeback to test cricket after more than four years.

Jofra Archer drew inspiration from Ganguly’s shirt-waving moment at the Lord’s, reveals Ben Stokes

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Stokes revealed that Archer drew inspiration from India’s victory in the Natwest series 2002 at the Lord’s. He revealed his chat with Archer before the start of day five.

“I just said to him this morning, ‘You know what today is, don’t you?’. You know that highlight package of India knocking off 300-odd back in the day with Ganguly?’ He thought that was the World Cup final. He thought that was six years today,” he said.

Notably, Stokes wanted to remind Archer of England’s victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final against New Zealand. However, Archer recalled the Ganguly-led India’s victory at the Lord’s in 2002.

“I was like, no that World Cup that we won? He was like, ‘Oh, that one.’ He’s an absolute beauty, that boy. I just had the feeling today and that Rishabh Pant wicket was massive in a low run chase,” he said.

Stokes also added that he had a feeling the Archer would provide a breakthrough on day five of the Lord’s test.

We knew that turning up this morning was genuinely the reason why we went with me and Jof (Archer). It felt right in my tummy that Jof was going to do something this morning to break the game open. Gut feel doesn’t always work but those two wickets he got this morning obviously swung the game massively in our favour,” Stokes added.

Talking about the match, England piled up 387/10 in the first innings with a century by Joe Root. India equalled their total in the first innings, getting bowled out for 387 runs. In the second innings, England were bowled out for 192 runs, setting a 193-run target for India. Archer clinched five wickets in the match.

Stokes won the Player of the Match award in the Lord’s test. Both teams will now lock horns in the fourth test at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester. The clash will commence from July 23.

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