Shubman Gill is looking at the positives from the Lord’s Test and remains “extremely proud” of the effort put in by the players, especially the Indian late-order. He also didn’t forget to mention Ravindra Jadeja’s contribution.
“Extremely proud, it was as close as Test cricket gets,” the India captain said after their 22-run loss.
“We were pretty confident this morning with plenty of batting left... we needed a couple of 50-run partnerships in the top order but we couldn’t do that... In the end, they played better than us. But there’s always hope,” Gill said.
“The target wasn’t massive, one partnership and we would have been back in the game. Jaddu bhai is very experienced and there were no messages which needed to
be conveyed. He batted brilliantly with the tail. We just wanted him and the tail to keep batting.”
Gill felt Rishabh Pant’s run-out in the first innings when he was going strong with KL Rahul proved to be very crucial.
“Actually, it was an error of judgement as far as the run is concerned and that can happen. And if you look closely, it was KL bhai, who was running at the danger end,” he said. “A lead in the first innings would have been crucial for us.”
He also rued the loss of four wickets on the fourth evening. “Things turned very quickly, last hour we could have applied ourselves better, and this morning they came up with plans.”
India are hoping to bounce back in the remaining two Tests. “The series score doesn’t reflect how we’ve played,” Gill said while refusing to disclose if Jasprit Bumrah would be available for the fourth Test in Manchester. “You’ll get to know soon,” was all he would say.
England captain and Man of the Match Ben Stokes recalled the day when he inspired England to their first-ever ODI World Cup triumph at Lord’s. They defeated New Zealand in the final. “Yeah, part of the reason I went with Jof (Jofra Archer) this morning, six years ago now to the day, he played a major role and I had a feeling he’d do something special and crack the game open,” Stokes said.
“A bit of discussion, Brydon (Carse) had an amazing spell, but I had a gut feeling that Jof’s going to do something in his first game back. Every time he’s announced, the ground erupts and when the speeds go up on the screen, the feeling changes.”
Stokes brilliantly ran Pant out and felt it changed things in their favour.
“In the middle of the spell, so I was pretty pumped up. Important position at extra cover, and in my peripheral I saw Rishabh stutter. One of the great feelings, when you let go of the ball and know it’s going to hit the stumps.”