Former England spinner turned analyst Monty Panesar believes that India missed an opportunity to win the Test series by losing the third Test against England at Lord’s, which saw the series scoreline of 2-2 in the end. The Indian team had an opportunity to claim a lead in the five-match Test series, but they lost their way during the fourth innings run chase, eventually losing by 22 runs as well.

“After a heavy workload of the IPL, India goes and plays a five-Test match series. Every given moment, they turned up. At Old Trafford, they drew the Test match. At Lords, it could have been anyone’s game. They probably should have won that game, but England were very lucky with that wicket of Siraj,” Panesar said in an interview with the Hindustan Times.

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“At the Oval, they were brilliant. At the Oval, on the 5th day, overcast conditions, everything went in their favour. So, I think India played better cricket. I think the Oval Test match victory was probably, actually, the moment when it showed that India won the series,” he further added.

However, Team India struggled after the senior pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirements from the Test format ahead of the 2025 tour of England. With Ravichandran Ashwin already out after the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series, the team played without three of their most experienced players as well.

“Well, I think everyone took it by surprise. When Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin retired, everyone thought England would win the contest. But it shows the strength of Indian cricket,” Monty Panesar concluded.