Ravi Shastri's Clear Take On What Went Wrong On Day 5 At Lord's: "Ravindra Jadeja And..."
Despite his monumental effort, Ravindra Jadeja was criticised by some experts for going too defensive in the 193-run chase.
- Ravindra Jadeja faced criticism for his defensive approach after India lost the Lord's Test to England
- Ravi Shastri suggested either Ravindra Jadeja or Nitish Kumar should have scored quicker runs before Lunch
- "I thought the time was before lunch you know when Jadeja and Nitish Reddy were there," said Shastri
It's been over a week since India suffered the heartbreaking loss to England in the third Test at Lord's. An unfortunate dismissal of Mohammed Siraj at the hands of Shoaib Bashir, with the ball rolling back into the stumps after landing on the pitch, brought an end to India's stubborn rearguard at the Home of Cricket, with Ravindra Jadeja left stranded at the other end. Despite his monumental effort, Jadeja was criticised by some experts for going too defensive in the 193-run chase. The visitors had crumbled to 82/7 on what was a thrilling final day of the game, before Jadeja led India's stubborn resistance.
Sharing his views on the loss, former India head coach Ravi Shastri suggested that either Jadeja or Nitish Kumar Reddy should taken the responsibility of scoring quick runs during their 30-run stand for the eighth wicket.
He went on to add that India could have gone defensive once the equation was down to 30 or 40.
"I thought the time was before lunch you know when Jadeja and Nitish Reddy were there one of the two should have gone a little more because the field was up ball was a little harder. Once it got softer than you knew there would be one delivery with your name written on it. At some stage, I thought they could have taken more chances and brought that deficit quicker to about 40. Then they could've played the way that they did," Shastri said in a video on The Overlap Cricket YouTube channel.
India currently trail 1-2 in the five-match series, but Shastri feels that the visitors could've sealed the series by now if they had taken their chances.
"If India had seized their moments it could have well been 3-0. Having said that, I thought England showed a lot of character first at Leeds and then uh again on that final day you know at Lords where the captain put his hand up hold those long spells and uh put his neck on the line and pulled it off," he added.
The fourth Test starts in Manchester on Wednesday, July 23.
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Ravindra Jadeja