Battered players leave bits of hearts and spirits behind after bruising Lord's Test

It is nearing 7pm on a balmy London evening. The sun is shining bright on Lord's. Water sprinklers are on. The ground staff have dusted off the pitch all the loose dirt and debris and the pieces of spirit and heart left on it. It is covered now.

It is a little over two hours after the epic finish to the Test between England and India, witnessed by a raucous day-five crowd built not of rich patrons and MCC members only who can afford tickets starting at 170 quid, but ordinary-class folk taking advantage of tickets worth 25 quid.

The Indians' balcony is deserted. Shoaib Bashir still sits in the England balcony, looking out at the stage of the great Test. At 4.53pm, Bashir bowled the ball to break India's hearts. With a broken finger on the left hand, sustained when trying to stop a powerful straight hit from Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings, he came out to bowl as a last resort.

India's last two wickets were threatening to break England down. Ben Stokes had bowled spells of nine and ten overs. Jofra Archer, playing his first Test in four years, had roused himself to bowl arguably the ball of the series to get rid of the biggest threat, Rishabh Pant. Stokes had bowled one to match it, nipping it up the hill to get rid of the wall, KL Rahul, who scored 100 and 39 in the Test.

Jadeja, though, was threatening to do the improbable. Whittle down the target one run at a time in the company of Jasprit Bumrah first and Mohammed Siraj later. Siraj had been there in England's faces all Test. He was putting his body on the line now. He stood resolute with Jadeja. When an Archer short ball stayed low, he wore it on his left biceps. Over my dead body. And there wasn't enough pace in the pitch to regularly threaten him of physical harm.

And then, 5.2 overs before the second new ball and 22 runs separating the two teams, the lethal blow came. In slow motion. Siraj defended the offbreak fairly well, off the middle of the bat really, but he played it with such soft hands that it topspun after dropping on the pitch towards the wickets. Immediately I texted "Srinath 1999" to those not at Lord's. They had visualised the heartbreak even before they saw it on the telly.

Siraj instinctively stuck his left leg out to try to kick it away, but missed. A football fan missed. Hawk-Eye doesn't provide you these trajectories. Had it continued in a straight line, the ball would have missed the leg stump, but it turned the other way on the second bounce, then slowly tickled the leg stump with just enough force to knock one bail over.

A soft, delicate end brought to a violent Test match where Pant nearly broke a finger, which ended Bashir's series, where Ollie Pope and Siraj copped blows, a reminder of the irony of how hard the "soft" cricket balls still are. Stokes would later say the celebrations were most subdued for a Test that went into the final session of the final day and one they won by just 22 runs.

In what seemed like just 30 seconds, they turned their attention to Siraj, who would go on to punch his bat hard. Siraj, who had earlier been booked for a send-off to one of them. Siraj, who was leading the sledging when Zak Crawley tried to run the clock down on the third evening. Siraj, who now had a tear in his eye. Siraj, now being consoled by them. Joe Root, whom he drew nine false shots out of in one spell without taking his wicket, was among the first ones to go to him.

It was as much exhaustion as it was empathy. A competitor they respected, one who had got out in an unfortunate manner. Two marathoners in a photo finish. The winner checking on the one who came second, almost thankful that they pushed each other.

It is 8pm, and the sun is still out, although there have been patches of cloud in between. The sprinklers have stopped. England are still there celebrating although not out on the balcony. The ground staff are over by their shed, celebrating rolling out a pitch that has been as much a hero as the main cast. The first two Tests contrived to produce excitement in the end. This one had just enough in it for the bowlers to make each day exciting without making batting perilous.

Runs came at only 3.08 an over. There was a session of just 51 runs and one wicket that had more tension and drama in it than a day full of runs on a flat pitch can have. There were moans about over rates and player behaviour, but these are elite cricketers just competing at their fiercest and most intense in one of the hottest Tests at Lord's.

It was a deeply physical Test played by some battered players. Bumrah, who must preserve his body if he wants to continue playing Test cricket, bowled 43 overs in the match, only behind Stokes, only by one over. Stokes, about whom his team worries he gets carried away and bowls spells that are too long. Archer, with no miles in his legs, struggled to hold length, but showed what raw pace can do: when he got it right, he took five wickets in just 36 false shots.

Just like life, the game can be unfair. India created more chances throughout the match, which is often enough to win Tests. Bumrah bowled more good balls than anyone, but ended up with just seven wickets in 82 false shots.

India swung the ball more, bowled a higher percentage of high-seam deliveries, stayed on good lengths for longer, kept England in the field for longer, but England seized the brief windows of opportunities to inflict maximum damage. Just like India were on day four, England's bowlers were relentless on day five. They didn't have the added threat of spin that India had with the old ball, so it was imperative they got into the tail before the ball went soft.

On the fourth evening, Brydon Carse sensed India were not quite picking full lengths early enough, and bowled 63% balls fuller than good length to take two wickets, one of them Shubman Gill. Archer, dismissively charged at by Pant, channelled his anger to find the perfect length and just enough seam against the angle from around the wicket. Running on fumes, Chris Woakes produced a peach to get rid of Nitish Kumar Reddy in the last over before the final lunch break, with the ball beginning to go soft.

When the ball did go soft, India just didn't have enough batting to punish the bowlers, who kept coming hard at them, over after over, even when they knew they had a wicket-taking opportunity for one or two balls every over. In that session, they just outlasted Jadeja.

There was a time when India had lost seven second-innings wickets in just 30 false shots, reminiscent of the 36 all out in Adelaide when they were bowled out in 32.

Then again, they should never have been in this position. Fourth innings on deteriorating pitches are often lotteries. In the second innings, they had England where they wanted them, but the pursuit of a personal milestone before a break got the better of them.

It was not necessarily selfish. It was an error. A human imperfection. A reminder that the game is not played by robots. India will acknowledge they need to learn, but must the lessons always be this harsh?

It is almost 9pm. The teams have left. There is a ceasefire for a week. As there is every evening actually. It is this break and then the resumption of the contest from the same position that makes Test cricket special.

On the third evening, the two sides were going at each other as though they might need an actual ceasefire. Only for Rahul to say minutes later that he could empathise with what Crawley was doing: running the clock down to play as few balls as possible when India tried to get as many in as possible before stumps.

Hostilities resume and cease, flow of time has its say on conditions, human imperfections and brilliance dance together, endurance and sharp bursts both matter. Every once in a while, they all conspire to create a result as magical as the one at Lord's: only the ninth Test in 2594 to be tied on first innings, two teams separated by just 22 runs after 15 sessions of attrition, ending in the most poignant and chaotic of manners, a solid defensive shot by a No. 11 rolling onto the stumps.

Outside Lord's, nothing much has changed. The No. 13 to Baker Street Station is not on time but it does arrive. It marries seamlessly with the Metropolitan Line tube to Farringdon and the Thameslink from there to Herne Hill. It doesn't feel like the usual long journey. The mind is engaged. It is basking in the Test. It will take a while before it stops doing so.