Mohammed Shami exposes Indian batters' mistakes in Lord's Test heartbreak vs England: 'If there awareness, we could have won'

Indian cricket team fast bowler Mohammed Shami has criticised the impatient approach by batters and lack of awareness during the failed 193-run chase at Lord's as India lost the third Test against England by an agonisingly small margin of 22 runs. Besides KL Rahul (39) and Ravindra Jadeja (61 not out), none of the Indian batters put up any real fight as Yashasvi Jaiswal was out for a duck and captain Shubman Gill scored six runs.

The lack of application and patience became India’s bane as they lost despite the lower-order showing some impressive fight. Analysing India’s defeat, Shami underlined the lack of patience and planning from Indian batters, which resulted in a disastrous start.

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Shami slams lack of patience from Indian batters

“193 was not looking like a big target. It was felt India would win, but there was a twist. Jaiswal did not show patience. Played the shot that was not needed…he got out for a duck. When you have to chase 193 in almost five sessions, you need patience, but he was in a hurry and got out,” Shami said on his YouTube channel.

“The next batters also could make any significant impact. There was a hope that if we started well, we would be able to chase 193, but by the end of Day 4, we were reduced to 58/4. It created a weird scenario; there weren’t any demons in the wicket.”

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Shami highlighted Jadeja’s fighting knock but rued the lack of support for the all-rounder from the specialist batters.

“I feel if they had kept some patience, if shot selection was okay, then there wouldn’t have been much problem. Shubman Gill looked charged up from the very first ball; his mind in a different frame, he wanted to play aggressively.

“…on Day 5, India were in a poor position in the first hour itself. The match was tilting in England’s favour. There with Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah tried to give his best, but when you have to chase 193 and you are 112/8, it was very difficult to bat with a bowler. Jadeja has now scored four consecutive fifties. He has played very well.”

Shami praises ‘courageous’ Siraj

Shami was effusive in his praise for Mohammed Siraj, who batted for 30 balls in a 23-run partnership with Jadeja and showed tremendous fight to take India extremely close to the finish line before suffering an unfortunate dismissal.

“…Siraj tried his very best, he was hurt by a ball as well, but the target was too far. Siraj showed a lot of courage and resilience and added many runs with Jadeja. Target was only 22 runs away, he defended against Bashir and the ball rolled down to the stumps. We can consider it fate, bad luck, maybe India were destined to lose, but we were very close to the target. This match was within our grasp. India should have been leading 2-1,” Shami said.

The Indian pacer concluded that India would have won the match with a little more awareness during the chase and added that Gill and Co would win the fourth Test at Manchester.

“…if there was more awareness, we could have won the match. But this is fate. India now need to win the remaining two matches, but it will be difficult. England have the advantage of the home conditions, but the Indian team is playing great cricket and I feel India will dominate England in the next match and the series will be levelled 2-2. We will enjoy the final match,” Shami concluded.