Follow UsIn every answer of his during the post-match presentation ceremony of the Lord’s Test on July 14 (Monday), the Indian skipper Shubman Gill brought out the lack of a 50-60-run partnership at the top of the order, as the team failed to chase down 193 to win the game in the fourth innings.
“I was pretty confident with plenty of batting left, but the way England kept attacking, we wanted to have maybe a couple of 50-run partnerships in our top-order, we weren't able to do that, and they played better than us,” Gill said.
“The target wasn't massive and one 50-60 run partnership we knew we would be back in,” added the 25-year-old.
Talking about missed opportunities, Gill also revisited the first innings of the Indian team. “At one point, we thought if we got a lead of 80-100, that might be crucial for us, because we knew the fifth day on this wicket might not be that easy to chase 150-200, so we were thinking if we can get a lead of 80 runs we would be in a good position,” he said.
The Punjab-born player also talked about how he and Akash Deep got out in the last hour of play on Day 4, which put pressure on the team coming to chase the target on Day 5.
“We could have applied ourselves a bit better, especially the last 2 wickets that fell. And even this morning, the way they came out with the plans, we were hoping for one 50-run partnership and if we had got one 50-run partnership in the top order, then things would have been easier for us,” he said.
However, Gill was proud of the way his team fought as the last three partnerships added a total of 88 runs and played out 50.3 overs to drag the game to the last session. As it turned out, Ravindra Jadeja (61*) was left stranded, unable to complete a heist.
“Five days of hard-fought cricket and it comes down to the last session, last wicket and tremendously proud of the effort,” said the skipper, hoping that such a hard-fought Test will spice up the series for the remaining two Tests.