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Picture Credit: ECB

The second Test between India and England was quite an exciting affair at Lord's. Coming into Day 5, the home side were on top of the game and needed to get rid of India's tail to set up an easy run-chase for themselves. However, this is when Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami notched up an unbeaten 89-run partnership for the 9th wicket to put India in the driving seat. In reply, England were bundled out on 120 as India went 1-0 up in the ongoing five-match series.

After the match, England team came under a lot of scrutiny by the critics for their tactics against Indian tail-enders. Former England captain Michael Vaughan put his fingers on the experienced duo of James Anderson and Joe Root for the strategic howler at Lord's. He said, "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?"

Emotion got the better of Joe Root: Anderson

Amid all this, James Anderson has now revealed that he had no role to play regarding the tactics. The 39-year-old has shockingly put the entire blame on Joe Root for taking revenge against Indian tail-enders by introducing Mark Wood into the attack to bowl bouncers at them. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah had troubled James Anderson in the first innings by bowling a barrage of short-pitch deliveries directed towards his helmet.

Reflecting on England's strategy on Day 5 at Lord's, Anderson said, "When Joe touched on getting a few things wrong, I think, potentially when Bumrah came in, he brought Mark Wood on and took me off. That's the sort of the thing he is talking about the emotion getting the better of him," while speaking on the Tailenders podcast.

"That was a sort of - trying for him to have a taste of his own medicine type of thing, rather than trying to get him out. You could just keep me on and normally see if he plays any big shot or anything like that, whereas he went with Mark Wood straightaway," he added.

Fans lash out at Anderson for putting all blame on the captain

Post Anderson's comments on the podcast against his captain, the netizens were quick to point out that the experienced pacer could have gone to Joe Root to offer him advise during the match. While some termed Anderson as 'cry baby', others opined that it was 'classic Jimmy' behaviour to play the blame-game after the Test. Some people also added that the 39-year-old should not have said these internal things in the middle of series.

Check out how fans' reactions on Twitter: