IND vs ENG: Ravindra Jadeja’s heroic attempt at miracle shouldn’t hide other batsmen’s tame surrender at Lord’s

Having hit KL Rahul’s pad with a deadly in-coming ball, Ben Stokes knelt in the middle of the pitch, begging the umpire to raise his finger. Half of those in the stands, Indian fans turning up in thousands, prayed the umpire wouldn’t. He would negate the appeal, a crestfallen Stokes would talk to his wicket-keeper Jamie Smith and the English huddle would look at Joe Root at first slip. Root nodded his head, Stokes made the T, umpires drew the rectangle and millions of eyes around the cricket world waited for the replay.

This was the moment this incredibly close Test of far-reaching consequences and overwhelming interest was to take the decisive turn. Stokes was right, the ball was hitting the stumps, Rahul was dragging his feet towards the pavilion. This was 11.35 am, about 15 minutes after Rishabh Pant had lost his off-stump to a corker from Jofra Archer. The fight seemed to be over. India’s Mr Reliable and Mr Miracle Maker, had both decided to take their offs, and India were suffering Monday blues.

But in this roller-coaster of a Test match, there was one twist left. India’s all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja tried his hand at a miracle and almost succeeded. In the company of Jasprit Bumrah, he took India closer to the winning target of 193. The two played 22 overs to score 35 but that’s when Bumrah’s patience warded off and skied a ball he tried to tonk to a boundary. India’s star pacer’s resistance lasted for 54 balls where he made 5. Siraj too stuck around for 30 balls for his courageous inning of 4 from 30 balls would get out – played on to off-spinner Shoaib Basheer. Siraj sank to his knees in despair and a distraught Jadeja would be unbeaten on 61 from 181 balls but not undefeated.

Eventually, 193 would prove to be a bridge too far. The batting failure of the top order was so spectacular that the all-rounders and tailenders could’t rebuild. This was no Gabba or Edgbaston, this was India once again getting nervy close to the finish line.

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After 4 days of an ugly tug of war, Rahul lbw to Stokes, was when India finally lost grip on the Test and England was gleefully running away with the tape. Fourth inning chase failure, batting collapse under pressure – that chronic Indian cricket problem continues. At Lord’s, the new team of hope and optimism, under a young captain Shubman Gill, showed those worrying symptoms of that old sickness.

After scores of 471, 364, 587, 427, 387 in the five innings over three Tests, India had the first collapse in the series on the day they had to rise to the occasion. India needed to score 193 to win but ended up making 170. 0-1, 1-1, 2-1 … India are trailing again in the series. Can they bounce back again? Do they have that kind of steel in them?

This was a game of fine margins – it could well have been England answering these questions with their highly-debated Bazball philosophy coming under scrutiny before the Ashes.

England’s desperation to win the game was symbolised by Stokes. He kept running hard to test the Indians. No freebies, hard length, tough questions and a lot of verbals. India needed just 135 runs, so Stokes didn’t want the intensity to drop. And he took it upon himself to lead by example.

Stokes had prepared himself for this very day, the kind where he might have to bowl a long quality spell with no errors. It was as early as the January of 2025 that Stokes had started his fitness regime. He knew the importance of the year for him, England and his tactics.

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While recovering from two hamstring surgeries, he had on his mind the two high-profile Test series – against India at home and the full Ashes tour to Australia. 10 Test matches with consequences.

Born a Kiwi, Stokes, in his youth, was well-entrenched in New Zealand’s binge-drinking culture. In England, he was found guilty of being part of a brawl outside a Bristol bar. Now, Stokes, 34, had decided to give up on alcohol as it was impacting his recovery.

“After my first major injury … I was thinking – ‘How has this happened … we did have a bit of a drink four or five nights ago, could that have played a part?,” Stokes would say on the Untapped podcast with Spencer Matthews. “So thought … I need to start changing. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely sober but I’ve not had a drink since January 2. I said to myself: ‘[I won’t drink] until I finish my injury rehab and get back on the field. That extra zip in the ball that came booming in and hit Rahul on the pad could well have been because of Stokes not taking any chances.

Someone with a similar story and success at Lord’s was Jofra Archer. He too had a long struggle with fitness. He was out for 4 and half years from the Test scene. Archer too had to make an impact. He had to justify the faith that Stokes had shown in him. In the first innings, he was impressive but still he didn’t seem Test-match ready. He was coming up with great balls but he wasn’t able to ‘set up’ the batsmen.

At Lord’s he did. Pant, the disrupter, tried to unsettle his length with his ‘charging down the track’ stroke against Jofra. Playing with a painfully injured finger, he wasn’t that convincing. Jofra didn’t get worked up by the boundary over the head and kept the ball up and stuck the ‘good length’ ball. Pant would lose his stumps as he misjudged the line. Another angled ball from the corner of the crease on Washington Sundar’s middle-leg resulted in the all-rounder giving a return catch to the bowler, who threw himself to his right to hold on.

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There were some serious faces in the Indian dressing room at the end. In little over a week, they will be in Manchester to play yet another crucial Test. It would be back to the drawing board to replan and redraw. Hanging on their heads is the big question: Three batting all-rounders in the team and you still can’t chase 193?

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