India Test captain Shubman Gill applauded his team’s lower order for keeping the hope alive in the Lord’s Test and took the game into the final session, with India coming close to a stunning victory before losing it by 22 runs. Team India faced a tough situation on the final day which saw them slip to 82 for 7 with another 111 to get for victory.
But Ravindra Jadeja added the stands of 30, 35 and 23 with Nitish Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj respectively to drag India near the finish line as well. And, Gill praised the star all-rounder, who scored his fourth straight half-century of the series as well.
“He [Jadeja] is one of the most valuable players in India,” the Indian Test captain said after the final day’s play. “I think the experience that he brings in, the skill set that he brings with his bowling, batting and fielding is someone that is very rare and hard to find. And the kind of composure that he showed today, it was just tremendous to watch. I think batting with the lower order of the tail has been one of the things that we spoke about in the previous two matches, that our lower order of the tail hasn’t been contributing as much. But I think the character and the courage that they showed was tremendous. The way we were in the game till the end, it felt like we could go very close if a partnership had added another 10 runs. And I think it’s a very proud effort from the team.”
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Shubman Gill also said India were left to rue what-ifs from the final two days with the bat as well, which made chasing 192 a massive task. After the early loss of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Karun Nair steered India out of choppy waters before 41 for 1 became 58 for 4 by Stumps on the fourth day with Nair, Gill and nightwatchman Akash Deep getting out just before the close of play.
“I think we didn’t play as well yesterday and today. I think in the top order, it was important that if we had a partnership of one or two (pairs) worth 50 runs, then we would have seen that after 30-40 overs, it would have been easier to bat. So, that was our effort. But unfortunately, I think this is the first time that we didn’t perform as well as we have done in the series. But it happens sometimes. We thought 190 [192] was still chaseable at the end of the day. We had to play 20-25 overs well. We had to try to have a 50-run partnership or two 50-run partnerships. The deeper the match, the easier it would have been for us,” he further added.
Like Ben Stokes, Shubman Gill also chose to play down any tension between both teams after a match showed constant sledging as well.
“I mean, you are giving everything, mentally, physically, everything. There would be times where there would be a little bit of heat from both sides. But I think that’s what makes it so exciting. That’s what makes it more challenging. The next time we are going to play against each other, there won’t be… At the end of the day, there is a lot of admiration within two teams. Both the teams try their best to win a match and perform. There can be moments where there would be some kind of heat. You are in the moment. You are trying everything to be able to do whatever it takes to make your team win. And I think it happens in a game of cricket,” Gill said.
Shubman Gill also said that the series scoreline of 1-2 with two games to go was a tough pill to swallow for Team India even after performing well so far.
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“I think the majority of the days if we see in the 15 days, we may have won more days than them. But the sessions that didn’t go well have gone very badly. So we will have to find that balance when we know that things are not going according to plan. So how can we improve that? Or if the batting is collapsing, how can we turn a four-wicket session into 2 or 2? These are the small margins that are very important in any series. But still, I think this match was very close. Even now we felt that we are coming from [a defeat of] 20 runs. If there was a partnership of 10 runs, then there is more pressure on the other team,” he stated.
“And in the pressure, a person tries to do something new. So at the end of the day, you have played for five days in so many sessions. There are a lot of small moments that you could have done better. But as a whole, if you look at the match, I am very proud of the effort that we put in,” Shubman Gill concluded.
