Sorry, But England Deserved To Win Lord's
Four reasons this wasn't a heartbreak for India, but a win that the English deserved from Day One
The deeply engrossing Anderson-Tendulkar trophy is past its inflection point: the mark at which in a five-game series, one team clinches the 2-1 lead. One more for them and the series is done. Even if not, they cannot lose it till the last game. Until even the fourth day of the Lord’s test, it had looked like an Indian team without Kohli (and without Jasprit Bumrah for two crucial games) might do what they failed to do in the staggered last edition of India touring England: beat them at home in a Test series.
Plenty of Indian hearts were shattered on Monday after Ravindra Jadeja’s valiant resistance with the tail following a terrible batting collapse ended with an unfortunate played-on dismissal for Mohammed Siraj. Visuals of a crestfallen Siraj, who truly gave it his all this game, have gone on to circulate all over social media. But all is not as it appears—India seemed to have their moments in the game, just like at Leeds when a total of five hundreds were scored by Indian batters in a losing cause—but this they did not deserve to win.
England kept pegging them back and halting any substantial progress on all five days of the game, and I’m glad they scraped through in the end—it has kept the series alive and kicking. Here are five times India dropped the advantage in the game.
You may also like
1. Failing to restrict England
On Day Two, India’s MVP for the longest time Jasprit Bumrah struck thrice in the space of seven balls, getting rid of Ben Stokes, Joe Root (batting on 104) and Chris Woakes. England were down to seven for 271 from four for 260. But letting the tail get away with a lot despite having their teeth in the flesh of the opposition has been a perennial bogey for the Indian cricket team. Letting Brydon Carse, no matter how useful he can be down the order, bat for as long as he did in the first innings, was bound to hurt the hosts at some point. England helped themselves to at least 50 runs beyond what India should have allowed them. And that’s being generous.
2. Not scoring enough after having the opportunity
Even as unaware fans licked their lips in anticipation of the final two days of the game—where it was set up like a limited overs game—it was disappointing to see scores level after the first innings. Test matches are about leads and deficits, and India missed the opportunity of putting the hosts on the backfoot on a wicket that was showing signs of deterioration. The KL Rahul-Rishabh Pant combine has the ability to collect runs at a fast clip—the two batters really complement each other—but an avoidable run-out and then Rahul failing to add a few more to his hundred hurt India’s chances to put England at least 50 runs behind. The second opportunity for an early advantage was lost there.
3. Three of their heaviest scorers failing in the chase
Stats do not lie—the highest India has chased down in England is 174 at The Oval, and it was over five decades ago (1971). Their last successful chase came as long ago as 2007, when they lost their top three chasing 73 (they've lost 12 times out of the 18 that they were asked to chase). A hundred and ninety-two was always going to be tricky, especially with the opposition having their tails up after the drama that ensued just before close of play on Day Three. They needed Shubman Gill—who has over six hundred runs in the series despite scoring 6 and 16 in this match—Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal to score. While Jaiswal (I’d go out on a limb and say, also Gill) is still to prove himself against quality attacks on foreign wickets, Pant might sometimes need to rein in his rodeo instincts. It was again left to the more senior bulwarks—Rahul and Jadeja—to lend some respectability to the chase.
4. An Underwhelming Number Three
Okay, elephant in the room, but a slot once occupied by Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara should be dispensed with more discretion. Karun Nair, despite having the distinction of being only the second Indian batter ever to score a triple hundred, has had his sixth failure in this series (unless 30s count), including the first game where he batted at five. The trouble with appointing someone like Mr Nair, who shot into spotlight with a 90 for the Delhi Daredevils this year, is that you're denying another youngster the chance of blossoming in tough situations at a crucial spot. The other matter of trouble with appointing someone on a comeback at number three is that you can very quickly be two down from one. Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran are warming the bench—it's always better to have youngsters fail—and one really hopes better sense will prevail in Manchester.
It's two games to go and if the visitors are still hungering after the unthinkable, they must win in Manchester and then again in London. With Bumrah inevitably and understandably gone for the coming game, and one of Shardul Thakur (who’s missing his golden touch lately) and Arshdeep Singh (yet to play a Test) set to replace him, an Indian win is quite unlikely. I hope I am proven wrong, though. It will need captain Gill to fire again, and with the bat this time.