Follow UsRavindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj batted for 318 deliveries as they showed supreme resilience to deny England a chance at victory in the third Test at Lord's, after India lost seven wickets for just 82 runs chasing 193.
However, the lack of contributions from the top order came back to bite the visitors as they suffered their fourth narrowest defeat in Test history. 22 runs was the difference at the end, and the climax happened in a way no one expected.
Siraj, who had already played his longest innings in his international career, survived seething fast bowling from Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse. However, it was a benign delivery from the rookie off-spinner Shoaib Bashir that dismissed him.
Bashir looped that delivery above Siraj’s eyeline, and it landed in the rough. It got some extra bounce on it, as despite Siraj’s cautious defence of it, the ball dropped on the surface, spun behind him, and trickled back to his stumps.
Siraj was absolutely distraught with that dismissal as he threw his bat and stood at the crease like a broken man. Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Stokes came and applauded Siraj's effort with the bat. Meanwhile, the England team engulfed Bashir and celebrated a hard-fought win as India’s staunch resilience came to an end. They lead the series 2-1 going into the fourth Test at Old Trafford, which starts July 23.