The third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy ended in heartbreak for India.
The third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s ended in heartbreak for India. The Shubman Gill-led side lost the game by a narrow margin of 22 runs and conceded 2-1 lead to England in the five-Test series.
Chasing 193, India were bowled out for 170, but not before putting up a valiant fight led by Ravindra Jadeja. The all-rounder was left stranded on 61*, having nearly pulled off the improbable.
With the last recognised batter in KL Rahul falling at 81/6, Jadeja stood firmly with the tail, dragging India within touching distance of victory. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj displayed admirable grit, but England bowlers eventually prevailed in closing out the game.
Reflecting on the match, former skipper Sourav Ganguly expressed disappointment that despite exceptional talent and quality in their dressing room, India ended on the wrong side of the result at Lord’s.
“A little bit disappointed with the way India batted in this series, they should have got this 190,” Ganguly said while speaking at the Indian Racing League & F4 India Championship event in Mumbai on Tuesday.
“When you see Jadeja fight and score the runs, and the batting quality in this team, they will be more disappointed than I am because it was an opportunity to get 2-1 up in the series against England.
“I am sure that they will be disappointed not getting to 190 especially with the quality of batsmanship they have in that dressing room.”
Ganguly suggested that the outcome would have been different had the top-order batter applied a bit better.
Yashasvi Jaiswal failed to open his account while Shubman Gill (6) and Rishabh Pant (9) could not reach double figures.
“If there was even a little bit of fight from the top, this game would have been India’s match,” said Ganguly.
The former BCCI president was all praise for Jadeja for his incredible resilience that kept India in the contest.
“Jadeja has been exceptional, he is going to continue to play for India as long as he bats and performs like this.
“He has been around for a long time. He has played some 80 Test matches and more than 200 one-day games. You can see him batting, bowling, and fielding. He is a special player and his batting has really improved over the years with the experience. He is a special player and very important part of this team.”
(With PTI Inputs)