ENG vs IND: What fired up England players at the Lord's? Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad blame 'Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy for India's defeat

Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad revealed how Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy fired up England players.

England cricketer Jos Buttler and former pacer Stuart Broad feel that Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy fired up England players during the third test at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The England Cricket Team defeated the Indian Cricket Team by 22 runs in the third match of the five-match series.

India had a target of 193 runs in the second innings. England delivered a brilliant bowling performance to demolish India’s batting unit, bundling them out for 170 runs. Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 61 runs in the second innings.

Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer hunted three wickets each to outplay India’s batting in the second innings. Stokes won the Player of the Match award in the encounter. With the victory in the Lord’s test, England lead the five-match series 2-1.

Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad reveal how Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy fired up England players

While speaking on the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast, Buttler said that Sundar’s interview about India’s victory on day four fired up England players in the Lord’s test. Notably, at the end of day four, Sundar showed confidence that India would win the match with ease.

“You set yourself up, don’t you? It’s horrible. But now everyone knows what I’ve said in the media last night, and everyone’s after me. Even McCullum-possibly the only time he didn’t have his feet up-he’s leant forward to say, ‘Come on. Let’s ramp it up for this guy,” said Buttler.

“I wonder if he’s just sort of, you know, got his words out wrong, but it was proper incredible confidence. ‘Yeah, we’re going to win.’ Someone will have heard that in the dressing room. It’s almost like instead of anyone saying anything this morning for England, you could have just played that interview-and that would have got people so fired up,” he added.

Broad feels that Reddy’s continuous chirping at the slips angered England players during the Lord’s test.

“Jofra bowled quick-his fastest spell in an England shirt-up the hill at the Nursery End, flying through at 92 miles an hour. I said, ‘God, I’ve never seen you as fired up as that. Actually, it was a team plan. They’ve (India) had a go at Zak Crawley. We’ve got to meet fire with fire here,” he said.

“Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Rooty-getting stuck into Reddy-because reports came back from the middle when Crawley and Duckett were out there that Reddy was the most vocal,” he added.

Meanwhile, England and India are now gearing up for the fourth test, which will commence from July 23 at Old Trafford, Manchester. England have replaced injured Shoaib Bashir with Liam Dawson in their squad for the fourth test.

India do not have a good record in tests in Manchester. They have never defeated England in a test match at the venue. Both sides have faced each other in nine tests at Old Trafford. Out of these, England won four games while five matches ended in a draw. Notably, the fourth test is a must-win game for India to keep their series-victory hopes alive.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.