'You set yourself up, don't you? it's horrible'- Buttler, Broad dissect India's on-field antics in Lord's Test

Former England pacer Stuart Broad and wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler felt that Indian all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar invited unnecessary trouble with their on-field antics on Days 3 and 4 of the Lord’s Test, which ultimately ended in heartbreak for the visitors.

India suffered a 22-run defeat after the off-spinner had expressed confidence in a victory ahead of the final day’s play. Despite claiming four quick wickets in England’s second innings before Stumps on Day 4, Sundar had boldly predicted that India would wrap up the 193-run chase by Lunch on Day 5.

“Definitely India winning, probably just after lunch… We are sitting pretty and we will come out positive. We have some solid batters in the dressing room. We have all day, but there needs to be the perfect plan. It is exciting in every way. Winning the Lord’s Test would be amazing,” said Sundar as quoted by The Indian Express.

Sundar succumbs to Jofra Archer's brilliant caught & bowled

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Sundar succumbs to Jofra Archer's brilliant caught & bowled

The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer’s confident words would come back to haunt him, as a determined English side led by Jofra Archer and captain Ben Stokes handed India their second-narrowest defeat away from home, losing by just 22 runs. Sundar was dismissed for a duck when Archer took a spectacular catch off his own bowling.

“There’s a little clip of when Washington came out to bat and (Brendon) McCullum over the balcony, sort of you know telling everyone to raise it, it’s the guy who’s been chirping. You set yourself up, don’t you? It’s horrible. But you’re like, no, everyone’s all over me. I could have just come out here and tried to have a good game and try my best,” said Buttler on the For the Love of Cricket podcast.

“But now everyone knows what I’ve said in the media last night, and this is going to be, 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.” the former England captain added.

The wicketkeeper-batter acknowledged that Sundar’s confident words might have rubbed some the wrong way, but insisted it was simply a show of belief. He also admitted that someone in the dressing room likely played the clip, which helped fire up the England team.

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

We've got to meet fire with fire: Broad

Meanwhile, Broad highlighted how Reddy faced a fiery spell from the English bowlers, led by Archer, as he came out to bat with India struggling at 82 for seven following Sundar’s dismissal. Broad also revealed that the exchange between the Indian fielders and Zak Crawley energised the home side, with Nitish becoming a primary target due to his vocal presence in the slips.

“Jofra bowled quick, bowled 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.’ And he said, actually, it was a team plan. They’ve (India) had a go at Zach Crawley. We’ve got to meet fire with fire here,” said Broad.

“(Rishabh) Pant’s dismissal was my favourite, but he bounced Reddy first ball and everyone came in. 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.