Team India looked well on course to surpass 387 when Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul were batting on Day 3 of the Lord's Test. But the duo's dismissals triggered an epic collapse that the visitors couldn't recover from. While Rahul departed after scoring a century, Pant fell 26 runs shy of his century after being run out. Speaking in the press conference after the day's play, Rahul shared insights into Pant's dismissal, saying the wicket-keeper batter got out while trying to get him on the strike.
In the last over before lunch, Pant was run out for 74, with Rahul becoming only the second Indian to put his name more than once on the Lord's honours board, went on to complete his milestone after lunch. However, right after bringing up his 10th Test hundred, Rahul too lost his wicket as India slipped to 254 for 5.
"There was a conversation a couple of overs before that. I told him that I will get my hundred if possible before lunch. And with Bashir bowling that last over before lunch, I thought there's a good chance for me to get it, but, yeah, unfortunately, I hit straight to the fielder. It was a ball that I could have hit for a boundary," Rahul told reporters at the end of the day's play.
"Then he just wanted to rotate strike and see if he could put me back on strike. But, yeah, it shouldn't have happened: a run-out at that stage really changed the momentum. It was disappointing for both of us. Obviously, nobody wants to throw their wicket like that," he added.
Rahul's century at Lord's, which followed his ton in Leeds and a half-century in Birmingham, is his fourth in Tests in England, the joint second-most by an Indian batter in the country alongside Rishabh Pant, Sachin Tendulkar, and Dilip Vengsarkar. The Indian opener had also claimed a triple-figure score at the venue back in 2021, when India registered a thrilling win over the hosts.
He said that for the last two-odd years, he has also been working with a specialist who has helped him with reaction-time training used by Formula 1 drivers.
"In the last year or so, I've worked on a few mental drills. I spent a bit of time with an expert who helped me with improving my reaction time. These are mental games that help you get better with reaction time and things like that," Rahul explained.
After three days of fascinating action, scores were levelled in the third Test at the Lord's as England bowled out India for 387 in 119.2 overs in the third Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series here on Saturday.
With IANS Inputs