“Didn’t want to give him any message” - Shubman Gill opens up on Ravindra Jadeja’s approach on Day 5

Team India captain Shubman Gill has opened up on Ravindra Jadeja’s valiant effort on the fifth and final day of the Lord’s Test as India suffered a 22-run loss to England to trail the five-match Test series by 1-2 with two more games to go.

Notably, India were struggling at 112/8 at Lunch on Day 5 with Ravindra Jadeja being the lone recognized batter at the crease with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj expected to join the battle in the middle.

While Bumrah managed to play 54 balls, scoring five runs with a four, he couldn't control his defense as he got out playing a lofted shot off Ben Stokes. Though Jadeja smacked an unbeaten 61-run knock, he couldn’t get proper support from the other end.

While the cricketing fraternity wanted Jadeja to go for the kill by attacking the opposition bowlers, Jadeja took a defensive approach, tiring the English bowlers. Speaking on the same, Gill stated that they didn’t want to disturb Jadeja’s approach by sending any message to him as he is an experienced all-rounder.

“He's very experienced, didn't want to give him any message. I think he was batting brilliantly with the tail and just wanted him and the tailenders to keep batting as much as possible. Well, there's always hope as long as there's a batsman batting. One 50-run partnership because the target wasn't massive. One 50-60 run partnership and we go right back in the game,” said Gill.

"We were quite optimistic when Siraj was batting. We felt that if we could just get to the second new ball with, say, only 12 or 15 runs left to chase, anything could happen. A couple of boundaries here or there, and suddenly, you’re back on top. When Siraj got hit by Archer, the only thought we had was that if Jaddu bhai (Jadeja) could face all six balls, even if it meant shielding Siraj completely, we might have a better shot, especially with the off-spinner bowling from one end," Gill stated.

"Our approach wasn’t about asking the tail to hit fours and sixes. The idea was to take the game as deep as possible and apply pressure. The closer we got, the more nervous England would be. It wasn’t about one big effort — just small, stubborn partnerships that could slowly turn the tide," Gill concluded.

Team India will next take on England in the fourth Test at the Old Trafford in Manchester, starting on Wednesday, July 23.

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