ENG vs IND | England won't be able to come back from Lord’s defeat, states Michael Vaughan

England were the favourites to win the second Test at Lord’s after having reduced India to 181/6 at the end of Day 4. On the fifth morning, Ollie Robinson dented India further with early wickets of Rishabh Pant - the last recognized batsman - and Ishant Sharma with the visitors just 182 ahead.

However, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah added 89 runs for the ninth wicket to lift India from 209/8 to 298/8 before the declaration came. During the partnership, there were quite a few heated moments in between, with England bowlers adopting short-ball tactics against the duo. The sequence pumped up the visitors, as KL Rahul would mention later, and India went for an all-out attack to clinch a memorable win.

Michael Vaughan believes that it will be very tough for Joe Root’s men to step up in the series, after how things panned out at Lord’s.

"England have prodded them. They have fired them up,” Vaughan told BBC. “It will take a very good England team to come back from here - and I don't think they will. It's going to be a long three Test matches from here.”

England’s approach to attack Shami and Bumrah with short-pitched bowling clearly backfired, as the pair stretched India’s lead to 271. Vaughan, who led England in 51 Tests, criticized the hosts’ tactics against the lower-order.

"They were all over the place. I've got no idea what they were thinking,” he said. “The key when you're under pressure is to keep things simple. You're bowling to tailenders, bowl to hit the top of off stump, don't bowl short and wide.

"Jasprit Bumrah had more fielders on the boundary than Rishabh Pant. How can that happen when you've got players like Joe Root and James Anderson who have played over 100 Test matches? They got the tactics completely wrong."

The third Test will be played at Headingley, Leeds, beginning August 25.