Sunil Gavaskar Slams India’s Missed Opportunity at Lord’s: Critiques Jadeja’s Cautious Tactics

Sunil Gavaskar Slams India’s Missed Opportunity at Lord’s: It was a game to remember as India fought hard at Lord’s on the final day when it seemed the game would be over long before. India eventually lost the game by 22 runs and England took a 2-1 lead in the series.

After the game, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar praised Ravindra Jadeja but felt he could have been a little more aggressive. Gavaskar also said not getting a 60-70 run partnership hurt India.

The visitors’ hopes began to fade early in the day as Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer picked up key wickets. Archer got Rishabh Pant with a beautiful delivery that knocked over his off stump.

Soon after Stokes got KL Rahul LBW and overturned the on-field decision with a DRS review. These initial blows set the tone for the day.

Jadeja was frustrating England who thought they would wrap up the game in the first session. He brought the deficit down to 23 before a cruel piece of luck—Shoaib Bashir’s delivery trickling onto Siraj’s stumps—finally ended India’s brave resistance.

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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar felt the batsmen couldn’t get a partnership which hit the team hard.

"A partnership of 60-70 would have made a difference. India never got that. You could say that Jadeja could have taken the odd chance and not necessarily the aerial route when Joe Root and Shoaib Bashir was bowling. But full marks to him (Jadeja)," Sunil Gavaskar said on Sony Sports.

England were on course for a famous win when Stokes and Archer picked up three wickets including Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul in the first hour before Woakes got Nitish Kumar Reddy at lunch.

Later speaking to Sports Tak, Gavaskar said when Bashir and Root were bowling to India, Jadeja could have taken a chance to score a boundary or a six especially with Ben Stokes standing at mid-off.

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"I though when Bashir came to bowl, Jadeja could have taken a chance. The second time was when Bumrah was batting with him, because Stokes was fielding inside the circle at mid-off. So he could have scored a boundary there, especially when Joe Root was bowling. Later when Siraj came to bat, Stokes stationed himself near the boundary rope," he said.

Chasing 193 to win, Jadeja and Bumrah added 35 runs in 22 overs for the ninth wicket and then Jadeja and Siraj added 23 in 13 overs. But Siraj fell to Shoaib Bashir when he played defensively to the off-spinner only for the ball to spin back and just dislodge the leg bail to leave India 170 all out.

England head to Manchester, the venue for the fourth Test, with a 2-1 lead in the series. They had won the first game in Leeds last month by 5 wickets and lost by 336 runs in Birmingham.

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