On this Day: India and England encountered eachother for 100th time in the 2000th Test Match

There were high expectations for the opening test of India’s 2011 tour of England. 134 years after an English team on tour against an Australian team played their first game in Melbourne, the 2000th Test match in cricket’s history was played. The fact that the historic Test will be played at Lord’s, known as the home of cricket, was seen as divine intervention by cricket romantics.

India had a lot of difficulty playing red-ball cricket at Lord’s, and in 2011, the team dealt with yet another disappointment when they fell to England by 196 runs in the 2000th Test match played on this day.

But Kevin Pietersen’s 202 unbeaten to help England declare at 474 for 8 in the first innings placed India on the back foot very early in the game. His third double hundred overall in Test cricket and his first at Lord’s. In order to put the hosts in charge, Matt Prior (71) and Jonathan Trott (70) also made significant contributions.

India resumed batting on Day 3. However, they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 286 in the last session. Tendulkar was out at 34 by Stuart Broad, and no other Indian batsman passed the score of 50 until Rahul Dravid, who was the last man standing at 103 after 220 balls. He finally accomplished what he failed to do in his first Test in 1996, 15 years after making his international debut, as he added his name to the Lord’s honors board with 103 not out.

Ishant Sharma, who tore through the middle order, dismissed Jonathan Trott (22), Kevin Pietersen (1), Ian Bell (0), and Eoin Morgan (19), giving India some optimism as England had a 193-run lead heading into the fourth day. Matt Prior and Stuart Broad, England’s number 7 and 8 batsmen, however, set up a 162-run partnership that raised England’s score from 107 to 269 before captain Andrew Strauss made the declaration.

Once again, India’s failed due to poor batting, as they managed just 261 in 96.3 overs while chasing the target, with Suresh Raina finishing with 78 and VVS Laxman with 56, losing the match by mammoth 196 runs.