India Finding It 'Tough' To Get Over Lord's Test Loss? Jadeja Says 'No One...'

NDTV

13 hours ago

Ajay Jadeja believes that the Indian cricket team dressing room must be having a hard time after the narrow loss against England in the third Test encounter at Lord's. Chasing 193, India were almost down and out after losing their eighth wicket. However, Ravindra Jadeja slammed a gritty half-century and stitched together partnerships with Jasprit Bumrah as well as Mohammed Siraj to keep the visitors in the hunt. The match went down to the wire and it was an unfortunate dismissal that ended Siraj's stay at the crease and clinched the game for England. With 1-2 down in the five-match series, Jadeja said that it will be hard for the team to take in the result at the moment but advised them to take a moment and process the emotions in order to bounce back ahead of the fourth Test match at Old Trafford.
'It's tough to think along those lines while you're in the dressing room. When you play and come so close, you cannot be thinking of it. There will be disappointment, and no one is more disappointed than him. A lot of things happened – what went wrong and what didn't. But real teams are those that emerge out of this strong, but today is not the day to talk about it,' he said on Sony Sports Network.
"It's impossible. They have worked their whole lives for it, prepared for this tour, had their strategies, and then when you come this close and loose, it's not easy to take in. They have shown us already how to win from such adversities. No matter how much you console."
Meanwhile, former India wicket-keeper batter Surinder Khanna believes Ravindra Jadeja should have been more aggressive on Day 5 of the third Test between India and England after the visitors lost by 22 runs at Lord's.
While chasing 193, India's top and middle order showed little to no resistance against the uneven bounce on the pitch and left Jadeja with a massive job to do, with the side reeling at 82/7 at one point. What followed was an extremely gritty innings by the all-rounder as he scored an unbeaten 61 off 181 deliveries but could not get India over the line.
Khanna said no one will remember Jadeja's innings as he could not be a hero.
"We don't have a batter that can bat with tailenders. Once he was set, maybe he could have scored more runs. I think he will be thinking that he could have made more strokes. When the ball gets soft, Bumrah, Siraj will not be scoring runs, you have to win the match and be a hero. People will forget this 60 (61) not out," Khanna told IANS.