Follow UsEngland won the third Test at Lord’s against India by 22 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series, but it was a rollercoaster fifth day which proved to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
At 112/8 chasing 192, the match looked done and dusted, but then Ravindra Jadeja, combined with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, showed incredible resilience to take India within 25 runs of the target.
Jadeja has received plenty of praise for being a lone warrior, but his knock has also come under criticism from few for ‘going nowhere’. On the day, Jadeja remained unbeaten on 61 but those runs came off 181 balls, with the left-hander striking all of five boundaries, unable to put pressure on the English bowlers. He relied on taking singles and taking the game deep, and he was aided by the fact that Bumrah and Siraj faced 84 balls between them.
Former South Africa batter Herschelle Gibbs was among those unhappy with Jadeja’s tactics.
“Came close in the end but lack of intent cost India the game,” Gibbs wrote on X after the game.
In further replies under the same post, Gibbs said, “That’s why he [Jadeja] needed intent earlier in his innings.”
When a user pointed out that ‘intent’ was not the right word to describe why India lost, Gibbs said, “Of course it is .. when did you ever take it to the bowlers? They were allowed to bowl without any batsman trying to put pressure on them.”
After three Tests, Jadeja is averaging 109.00 in the series, and has now hit four consecutive fifties.