Too many unforced errors led to India’s agonizing Lord’s defeat

The end was riveting, as Ravindra Jadeja scrapped his way through most of the final day’s play at Lord’s as wickets kept falling at the other end, only to be left stone-faced at the sight of India’s No 11 Mohammed Siraj bowled when a ball from Shoaib Bashir trickled onto the stumps and dislodged a bail. 

That last dismissal gave England victory by 22 runs and a 2-1 lead in the series, but India will know all too well that it could have been 3-0 so far. 

Shubman Gill’s team has committed so many unforced errors across these three Test matches, starting by the losing the ‘unloseable Test’ in Birmingham and now at Lord’s, where they conceded 63 extras, failed to take the lead when in command then were bowled out for 170 in pursuit of a target of 193.

England began the final day cock-a-hoop, taking three wickets inside the first hour and a fourth on the stroke of lunch, but their delirium turned to despair as Jadeja summoned immense inner resolve. The allrounder batted 181 deliveries for his unbeaten 61 runs, finding support from the tail in Jasprit Bumrah, who faced 54 deliveries for five runs, and Siraj who consumed 30 for his four. 

Nerves frayed, tempers flared and in the heatwave of London the two teams played out an enthralling final day’s play which ended in a blend of relief and jubilation for England. Joe Root was first among England’s contingent to console Siraj, on his knees, and then shook hands in acknowledgement of Jadeja’s epic that spanned almost five hours. 

Since 2012, only twice has an Indian cricket team successfully chased a target over 180. One of those was the once-in-a-generation Gabba heist of 2021. So, all too familiarly, you sort of got the sense that India were probably going to make a meal of 193 on a fifth day pitch with variable bounce against Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes. 

From 112/8, that the chase went to within 22 runs of an epic victory owed to Jadeja’s tenacity and some rare stubbornness from Bumrah and Siraj, but if you closely analyse the bigger picture, you will see that India did not lose this Test match because of their fourth innings display. 

Make no mistake, it was the moving day of this Test which decided the outcome. India, thanks to Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul’s century partnership, were cruising towards England’s first-innings total of 387. Then Pant had a brain fade moment, Stokes collected the ball and nailed a direct hit, and England were back in it. 

Rahul duly scored a century – his second at Lord’s – but was immediately out for 100 when edging a loopy delivery from Bashir to slip. India lost five wickets for 71 runs to end up on exactly 387, failed to take the lead, and that proved the difference 48 hours later. 

Yes, India did well to take the match so deep, but it need not have been that way. Those whopping 63 extras, Rahul’s dropped catch and an all too familiar fourth-innings batting collapse put together, and you get a portrait of a team unsure about how to grasp opportunities and bury their opponents.

Compare that to England, who entered this Test after losing to India by 336 runs in the previous game. Questions were being asked of the team’s commitment to Bazball, and Stokes was a man under fire for his decisions at Edgbaston and lack of runs. 

True to their spirit, England bounced back from defeat at by playing a different brand of cricket, and while they too had moments to forget, it came down to their leader to make the difference. tokes was a lion a Lord’s, taking five wickets, scoring vital runs, leading with courage, and effecting the meme-worthy run out of Pant for 74 on day three, the dismissal that brought England back into the Test. 

India could learn a thing or three from Stokes about how to seize the moment, given they should have already wrapped up the series by now.