Jadeja’s defiance in vain as India suffer a narrow 22-run defeat to England in third Test
London: Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and the usually fragile tail brought India back from the brink but fell heartbreakingly short in the face of England captain Ben Stokes’ resolve, going down by 22 runs in the wildly fluctuating third Test here on Monday.
Down and out at 112 for eight, Jadeja (61* off 181) took the game deep with the help of Jasprit Bumrah (5 off 54) and Mohammed Siraj (4 off 30) before agonisingly ending up on the wrong side of the result in a game for the ages. The visitors trail 1-2 in the five-match series.
India were chasing a seemingly gettable 193 but folded for 170 after their front-line batters endured a rare collective failure, engineered by
the pace trio of Jofra Archer (3/55), player of the match Stokes (3/48) and Brydon Carse (2/30).
Siraj showed plenty of fight, as he always does, but his forward defence off Shoaib Bashir rolled back to his stumps, bringing him down on his knees in despair and a thrilling finish to the match.
India had resumed at 58 for four on a treacherous pitch needing 135 more to win. KL Rahul (39) and Rishabh Pant (9), India’s best hopes, fell in quick succession, with Pant battling pain after injuring his finger on day one. Archer produced a stunning delivery to uproot Pant’s off-stump, then Stokes dismissed Rahul lbw with a ball that
jagged back sharply.
Washington Sundar departed for a duck soon after, and Nitish Reddy’s dismissal to Chris Woakes at lunch made it 112 for eight. From there, Jadeja fought valiantly, batting through a two-and-a-half-hour afternoon session
with Bumrah and Siraj. His fourth successive fifty was a masterclass in patience and determination.
The Lord’s crowd, buzzing even on a Monday, was treated to a gripping final session. The partnership with Bumrah added 51 runs and brought India within 30 of victory. But the pitch’s uneven bounce and England’s unrelenting pace attack eventually proved too much.
India will now regroup ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, starting July 23, needing a win to stay alive in the series.
