India's dream of a day of recall on Day 5 of the third Test at Lord's was shattered despite a valiant fight by Ravindra Jadeja and the lower order.
What began as a possible run chase of 135 with six wickets in hand turned into a rout in a jiffy, as England's pace battery ran amuck in the first session. India eventually collapsed for 170 in 74.5 overs, narrowly failing to engineer a great escape.
From the very moment India lost four wickets in a flurry during the morning session, pressure began to build. Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer took charge for England with three wickets each from their prolonged overs—24 and 16 overs respectively—while Brydon Carse supplemented his two wickets. Chris Woakes then gave the deciding blow just before lunch, dismissing Nitish Kumar Reddy and further constricting England's grip on the game.
Old India captain Sunil Gavaskar opined about the defeat, citing the absence of significant partnerships as the change of pace. "A 60-70 partnership would have been the difference. India never had that. You can say Jadeja could have taken some calculated risks rather than always going in the air against Joe Root and Shoaib Bashir. But full marks to him for the combat," Gavaskar maintained on the post-match commentary on Sony Sports.
The fall started with Rishabh Pant, who was promising in the early stages as he dealt with a loose ball from Archer to the fence. Though battling a hurt bottom hand and under constant pace pressure, he couldn't hold out. Archer bowled him over with a ball that flew past the outside edge and into the off stump.
Ben Stokes then came up with another piece of brilliance, taking out KL Rahul with a ball which jagged back sharply. While the on-field umpire initially gave it not out, England managed to overturn the decision through DRS, with ball-tracking displaying the delivery striking the top of the stumps.
Archer's brilliance persisted with a dazzling one-handed reflex catch in his follow-through to send Washington Sundar packing for a duck, leaving India at 82 for 7. Jadeja and debutant Reddy then staged a short rearguard from there, inching India tentatively past the 100-run mark in the 32nd over as the ball became softer.
The pair turned the strike well and soaked up pressure, Jadeja even surviving a slight bump into Carse while trying a second run. Reddy gave the first boundary off 80 deliveries with a confident cover drive, followed by a nervous inside edge that just missed the stumps.
But before lunch, Woakes struck with a short delivery from wide of the crease that caught Reddy's outside edge. There was no error behind the stumps from wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, which ended a hard stand and left India with only two wickets in hand to head into the second session.
In spite of Jadeja's solitary-warrior stance, the target was just beyond reach. England's tight bowling and alert fielding saw to it that India, even though valiant in defeat, departed without victory.
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