The third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s ended in heartbreak for India.
The third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s ended in heartbreak for Shubman Gill-led Indian team. The visitors went down by 22 runs while chasing the target of 193.
Nonetheless, it was truly a great advertisement for Test cricket as the match saw riveting contest between bat and ball. The game also witnessed heated altercations and sledging by players of both teams over the course of five days.
Moreover, one will always remember the image of Joe Root and Zak Crawley going up to Mohammed Siraj to console him after the Indian pacer lost his wicket in the most unfortunate manner to decide the fate of the hard-fought Test match.
Speaking on the Listnr Podcast, Australian women's team captain Alyssa Healy said she would have loved to see Virat Kohli in the middle of such an intense contest, as he flourished in such situations.
Notably, Kohli hung up his boots from Test cricket in May 2025, weeks before the selection of India’s squad for the England tour. The 36-year-old finished his Test career with 9230 runs from 123 matches at an average of 46.85.
“The way with which the two teams were going about it, I could not stop watching. I loved it. It was spicy and I loved it. The chatter that was going on. I just thought of the contest itself. Entertaining, right?” Healy stated.
“I shouldn't be saying this for the sake of this current Indian team. But it made me miss Virat Kohli a little bit. I would imagine he would have absolutely thrived in that hostile environment, trying to save that Test match. But Jadeja tried his best,” she added.
Minutes before the close of play on Day 3, tempers flared as India skipper Shubman Gill confronted England opener Zak Crawley for his time-wasting tactics, asking him to be brave and bat.
However, Healy felt it was totally uncalled for as the tourists themselves took a lot of breaks throughout the Lord’s Test.
“That's well within the rules. The whole spirit of the game, this whole grey area, not fitting in this situation. But I mean, you talk about the game itself. India can't blow up about Crawley doing that then when India right throughout the day before had a drinks break every 15 minutes, there were drinks being brought out,” she opined.
“At the end of the day, if you wanted a couple of more overs at England, you could have increased the speed throughout the day. I think that's maybe where stuff started. There was a bit of frustration throughout the series about some of the DRS calls and umpiring. There has been stuff lingering and finally it blew over. But I loved it. It was awesome,” she further remarked.
After losing the third Test, India are now 1-2 behind in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. They can’t afford to lose any more matches or the series will be gone.
The penultimate Test of the five-match series is set to begin on July 23 at Old Trafford, Manchester.