By Kaif - Jul 15, 2025 12:00 PM
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IND vs ENG 3rd Test: England defeated India by 22 runs on the fifth and final day of the third Test played at Lord's to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. The next match will be played in Manchester from July 23. Chasing England's target of 193 runs, the Indian team collapsed to 170 runs. Ravindra Jadeja scored the highest unbeaten 61 runs for the visiting team, while opener Lokesh Rahul scored 39 runs. Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes took three wickets each for England. Fans are very disappointed with this defeat, but are saluting the spirit of Jadeja, Siraj and Bumrah.
The batting on the basis of which we won the Edgbaston Test, definitely let us down in this Test. Neither Rahul, nor Pant nor captain Gill performed in the second innings. Captain Gill failed in both innings. Apart from this, there were many reasons due to which Team India had to face defeat. Let's know the 7 reasons why Team India lost the third Test match at Lord's
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India gave 63 runs from extras in this test. In the first innings, Team India gave 31 runs from extras and in the second innings, 32 runs from extras. If we compare it with England, then the English team gave a total of 30 runs including 12 runs from extras in the first innings and 18 runs in the second innings. These extra runs are one of the main reasons for India's defeat. Especially in the second innings, the Indian team gave a lot of runs from byes. Team India gave four byes six times. That means England got 24 runs for free and then these 24 runs proved to be heavy. The difference in Team India's defeat was 22 runs.
Yashasvi and Gill batted brilliantly in the first two tests. Yashasvi is considered a big batsman of the future, but his poor shot selection in this test is one of the main reasons for Team India's defeat. In the first innings, he got caught by Harry Brook in the slip off Jofra Archer's ball. In the second innings, he played an irresponsible shot in the air off Archer's ball and was caught out. In the first innings, Yashasvi played eight balls and scored 13 runs, while in the second innings he played seven balls and could not even open the account. At the same time, captain Shubman Gill has scored 600+ runs in this series, but when the team needed him the most, his bat remained silent. In the first innings, he was out after scoring 16 runs in 44 balls and six runs in nine balls in the second innings.
While India's tail-enders batted with determination, the main batsmen were laggards. Except KL Rahul, no one showed the passion to spend some time on the field and play the ball. Rahul scored 39 runs in 58 balls. He certainly tried to maintain a partnership with Karun (14), but wickets kept falling from one end and then Rahul was also out. Jadeja scored an unbeaten 61 off 181 balls with the help of four fours and a six. At the same time, Nitish scored 13 runs in 53 balls, Bumrah scored five runs in 54 balls and Siraj scored four runs in 30 balls. Their runs may not be many, but they showed passion.
Karun Nair's comeback made a lot of headlines. He also scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket and made a comeback on the basis of hard work. However, since then his game has become a flop. When he was asked to bat at number six in the first Test, everyone said that this is not his natural batting position. After this, he was asked to bat at number three on a flat pitch at Edgbaston and a difficult pitch at Lord's and he flopped at both these places. So far, his scores in six innings of three Tests have been 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 runs. India will have to find a better option at number three. If Karun's form remains the same, it will not take long to drop him again.
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England lost seven wickets for 271 runs in their first innings. Even after this, the Indian team could not wrap them up quickly. Jamie Smith shared an 84-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Brydon Carse. With this, England was able to reach a score of 387. This problem with India is not new. Earlier also, many times the tail-enders of the opposition team have scored runs against India on important occasions.
Indian captain Shubman Gill as well as English captain Ben Stokes also admitted that Pant's run out was an important moment. Gill had said after the match that Pant's dismissal was a very important moment. He had said that if we had got a lead of even 80 runs instead of the score being equal in the first innings, the result could have been different. Pant was in very good form after scoring 74 runs in the first innings, but after that he was run out on an accurate throw by England captain Ben Stokes. At that time India's score was 248 runs for three wickets and it seemed that Team India would get the lead. Pant and Rahul had already made a partnership of 141 runs for the fourth wicket. After Pant's dismissal, Team India's wickets kept falling at regular intervals and could only score 387 runs.
Stokes bowled brilliantly. Being the captain, he took the responsibility of making the England team win and kept bowling continuously. His first spell was of nine and a half overs, then his second spell was of six overs. Then he bowled several consecutive overs in the end. His marathon bowling gave England many important wickets. Stokes took the wickets of Rahul, Akash Deep and Bumrah. At the same time, Archer also bowled brilliantly. He sent Yashasvi, Sundar and Pant to the pavilion. Stokes was named Player of the Match for his all-round performance. We are afraid of Bumrah's long spell, no matter how much gap there is in the next Test. We think about his workload. Gill did not confirm Bumrah's playing in Manchester even after the third Test. At the same time, Stokes also got injured many times recently, stayed away from the game, but he bowled and was satisfied only after giving victory to the team.
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