After India’s heartbreaking defeat to England in the 3rd Test, several crucial moments and lapses were rued for potentially snatching the game away from the visitors. Ravi Shastri has identified two crucial moments that, in his view, cost India the third Test at Lord’s. In a tightly contested match that saw both sides push each other to the limit, India ended up falling short by 22 runs, bowled out for 170 while chasing 193.The former India head coach analysed the defeat, stating that the first big turning point came on Day 3, when Rishabh Pant was run out just before lunch. “The turning point for me in this Test match was, first of all, Rishabh Pant’s dismissal (in the 1st innings),” Shastri said. “Ben Stokes, simply outstanding presence of mind to hit at the right end and pull it off on the stroke of lunch. Because India would have got a lead and they were in the driver’s seat,” said Shastri, speaking to Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review. Pant was batting confidently on 74, and his wicket shifted momentum back to England. India and England had both posted identical first innings totals of 387, and Pant’s dismissal denied India a possible edge.
The second moment, Shastri said, came when Karun Nair misjudged a ball early in the second innings. “Having said that, again at 40/1 (in the 2nd innings), I thought that was a huge lapse in concentration from Karun Nair to leave a straight ball, a nothing ball, to leave it and open the door for England. I thought that the timing of that dismissal turned things around,” said Shastri. “Because you saw when Siraj batted, when Bumrah batted, when Jadeja was batting, once the ball was 40 overs old, they hardly put a foot wrong. They were solid in defence and to bring that target down at lunch, 82 to get, you thought in the next 10 minutes it would be done and dusted. But to bring that 82 or 83 to 22 was a massive achievement. So it just goes to show that (if) the top order had just been a little tougher and mentally stronger on Day 4, towards the end, this game would have been India’s,” stated Shastri.
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Despite the loss, he praised England for stepping up when it mattered most. “You have to compliment England. When the going got tough, those moments they seized. And when they saw an opening in the door, they just banged their door down,” he said. Shastri also reflected on how closely this match mirrored India’s win at Lord’s in 2021, calling the current series ‘fascinating’ with two matches left. India trail 2-1 in the five-match series and head to Manchester for the 4th Test, needing a win to stay alive in the series.
