London: Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and the usually fragile tail brought India back from the brink but fell heartbreakingly short in the face of England captain Ben Stokes’ resolve, going down by 22 runs in the wildly fluctuating third Test here on Monday.
Down and out at 112 for eight, Jadeja (61 not out off 181) took the game deep with the help of Jasprit Bumrah (5 off 54) and Mohammed Siraj (4 off 30) before agonisingly ending up on the wrong side of the result in a game for the ages. The visitors trail 1-2 in the five-match series.
India were chasing a seemingly gettable 193 but folded for 170 after their front-line batters endured a rare collective failure, engineered by the pace trio of Jofra Archer (3/55), player of the match Stokes (3/48) and Brydon Carse (2/30).
Siraj showed plenty of fight, as he always does, but his forward defence off Shoaib Bashir rolled back to his stumps, bringing him down on his knees in despair and a thrilling finish to the match.
In an extended afternoon session, Jadeja batted efficiently alongside Bumrah and Siraj to take the visitors to 30 runs shy of the victory target of 193.
The southpaw showed the stomach for fight as he batted out the two and a half hour session with the tail-enders.
India were 163/9 at tea, collecting 41 runs in the session for the loss of Bumrah (5 off 54), enthralling a packed crowd that got it’s money’s worth thanks to the gritty cricket on display by both the sides.
It was Jadeja’s fourth half-century in a row and came in the most trying circumstances with India staring at a big defeat.
In the morning, the match looked as good as over for India whose inexperienced batting line-up failed in its first major test and surrendered against the Archer-led England pace attack.
India, who batted brilliantly in the first two Tests, could not stand the test of Archer and Co. on a spicy Day 5 pitch.
The outcome was a foregone conclusion when Chris Woakes had Nitish Reddy caught behind at the stroke of lunch to leave India tottering.
However, Jadeja’s steely effort created a glimmer of hope for India.
Starting the day at 58 for four and needing another 135 runs on a rapidly deteriorating surface with variable bounce, India needed their experienced batters to fire for their fourth success at the iconic ground since 1932 but it was not to be.
The loss of Rishabh Pant (9 off 12 balls), KL Rahul (39 off 58) and Washington Sundar (0 off 4) inside the first hour made the chase an improbable task for India.
The key for India was the presence of Rahul and Pant in the middle but both departed in a space of 18 balls.