If heartbreak had a face, it was this.
They say "it's not the result, but the effort that matters." Yes, Jadeja and the tail fought like warriors. But strip away the emotion, and you're left with a painful truth — India lost the Lord's Test. Here are the 5 reasons why that happened:
A Mountain of Extras
Let’s start from the beginning. Across both innings, India gifted England 63 extras. Let that sink in — in the second innings, no English batter scored more than the number of runs India gave away. And when the margin is just 22 runs, those extras hurt even more.
Gill Goes Missing
Given Shubman Gill’s form, fans had once again placed their hopes on him to deliver. But when it mattered most, Gill failed. One failure is understandable. But to score just 6 in a chase this tense? It left India on the back foot from the start of the second innings.
Overdependence on Rahul, Pant, and Jadeja
Okay, Gill didn’t fire in this match — but the way Yashasvi Jaiswal threw away his wicket in both innings, it looked less like aggression and more like recklessness. And as for Karun Nair, it’s hard to understand what’s going wrong. Squandering one opportunity after another. One thing is clear — India looked overly dependent on Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Jadeja at Lord’s.
Bumrah-Siraj Give a Reality Check
While Jasprit Bumrah faced 54 balls and Mohammed Siraj stood tall with 30 alongside Jadeja, players like Jaiswal, Gill, Pant, and Sundar could only manage 7, 9, 12, and 4 deliveries respectively. If even one of them had stayed in and held their nerve, scoring 22 more runs wouldn’t have been a big ask. In the end, it was the bowlers who showed the fight that the batters forgot.
The scorecard will say England won at Lord’s. But deep down, India know — they handed this one away.
