Boria Majumdar in London
It was eventually the last round in a 15-round boxing bout. No team was ready to throw in the towel and the punches from both sides kept landing. Players were bloodied and exhausted but the fight was still on. India, thanks to Jadeja and the lower order, threatened the unthinkable and had it happened it could have been compared to Ben Stokes’ miracle at Headingley or Kusal Mendis’ effort against South Africa.
Ravindra Jadeja almost pulled off a heist. But then, sport can be cruel and that’s what happened when Mohammed Siraj dragged the delivery from Shaoib Bashir onto the stumps. For Stokes, however, it was redemption. He got a lot of flak post-Edgbaston and he showed heart and pluck to counter it. With the ball, he was relentless. At no point did he look tired and it was a lion-hearted effort from the England captain. In the end, it was yet another Test match that went to the very last session and no one knew which team would win. It has been that kind of a series and fans have just loved it.
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When I look back, I have to single out one moment in the game when it changed for India. It was the Rishabh Pant run-out on Day 3. India had started the day behind and then the first session was just superb with Pant and KL Rahul taking the battle to the English. And just when it seemed that the game was all India, did the brain fade happen.
While we have all spoken about Stokes and how athletic he is, the truth is he shouldn’t have been allowed the chance. Individual milestones don’t really matter and that one moment of madness eventually turned decisive for India. While I am not for once trying to defend the extras or the dropped catches, the truth is if I have to single out one moment it would be the Pant one.
Having said that we have seen enough to say this series is far from over. India have shown fight every single day and that’s what you want to see in an away series from a team that is in transition. Whatever happens, play Jasprit Bumrah in Manchester which will be cooler and come hard at England in trying to level the series.
India now know they can pick 20 wickets. They also know that the lower order can fight. Finally, they know that Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar are key additions to the team. All they need to do is solve the No. 3 problem and this team is good to go. Either Karun Nair needs to be told that he can’t give it away once he has done the hard yards or India has to go to Sai Sudharsan who wasn’t bad in Leeds.
In sum, however, Lord’s has given India a number of positive takeaways and for a team it should always be a glass half full than half empty.
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