India captain Shubman Gill shared his thoughts on Ravindra Jadeja’s tactics batting with the tail on Day 5 of the third Test against England at Lord’s. India were staring down the barrel at 112/8 at lunch with Jadeja being the last recognised batter at the crease with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to come in next.
Both tailenders managed to hang around with Jadeja (61*) as they tried to whittle away the deficit run by run. However, several fans questioned Jadeja’s approach, saying that he should’ve tried to attack more to put pressure back on England.
ENG vs IND 3rd Test day 5 Updates
Gill was asked about his approach in the post-match presentation, and the India captain said that he didn’t want to disturb his rhythm by giving any message, praising the all-rounder for his performance.
“He’s very experienced, didn’t want to give him any message. I think he was batting brilliantly with the tail and just wanted him and the tailenders to keep batting as much as possible. Well, there’s always hope as long as there’s a batsman batting. One 50-run partnership because the target wasn’t massive. One 50-60 run partnership and we go right back in the game,” said Gill in the post-match presentation.
Furthermore, Gill also mentioned that they wanted to take the game as deep as possible and apply pressure on England by stitching small partnerships.
“We were quite optimistic when Siraj was batting. We felt that if we could just get to the second new ball with, say, only 12 or 15 runs left to chase, anything could happen. A couple of boundaries here or there, and suddenly, you’re back on top. When Siraj got hit by Archer, the only thought we had was that if Jaddu bhai (Jadeja) could face all six balls, even if it meant shielding Siraj completely, we might have a better shot — especially with the off-spinner bowling from one end,” said Gill in the post-match press conference.
“Our approach wasn’t about asking the tail to hit fours and sixes. The idea was to take the game as deep as possible and apply pressure. The closer we got, the more nervous England would be. It wasn’t about one big effort — just small, stubborn partnerships that could slowly turn the tide,” Gill concluded.
Jadeja’s lone battle on Day 5
India came into the day, needing 135 more runs to win, having six wickets in hand with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant at the crease. England were all over India in the first session as they got rid of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar within the first hour.
Nitish Kumar Reddy also departed for 13 (53) just before lunch to pile on the misery on India, leaving them on 112/8. Jadeja found support from Jasprit Bumrah, who valiantly batted for 53 balls as the duo added 35 runs off 132 balls. However, even his resistance ended as he fell into the short-ball trap of Ben Stokes.
In the end, Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj continued to fight on for a bit, bringing India within touching distance of a win. However, an unfortunate dismissal in the 75th over acted as the final nail in the coffin, and England eventually emerged victorious by 22 runs.
– Ends
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