Can Bumrah & Co Compare With Vintage Pak Attack?

Virtually every Indian cricket fan of the 1990s was envious of Pakistan’s pace attack. The ability of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and a spinner (Mushtaq Ahmed or Saqlain Mushtaq) to turn matches on the head in foreign conditions had us in awe as we kept waiting for those elusive away wins.

- Dwaipayan Datta

Two decades down the line, it’s the Indian pace attack that is the envy of the cricket world. On Monday, India’s win against England raised visions of a famous, and almost identical, Pakistan win at Lord’s 25 years ago which paved the way for Akram’s boys to win the series 2-0. England — with Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Graeme Hick among others — were looking to save the Test on a barren Lord’s pitch and had lost only one wicket going into the second session of the final day, much like Oval on Monday. And then it was over to Waqar Younis and leggie Mushtaq, bowling round the wicket and in the rough, to decimate England.