'The Curse Of 33': Dissecting Shubman Gill-Led India's Biggest Flaw That Led To Their Downfall In The Third IND vs ENG Test At Lord's

IND vs ENG: July 14 and Ben Stokes, this is a love story that is made in heaven. Exactly six years ago, on this very day, England had won their maiden ODI World Cup, courtesy of an iconic innings that Ben Stokes played. He found his best form again as he bowled 19 overs out of the 58.1 on the final day of the Lord's Test and clinched 3 wickets to break the back of the Indian batting. In one of the beautiful coincidences in the game of cricket, Stokes was adjudged the Player of The Match on both occasions.

India, on the other hand, have had a bittersweet series so far despite dominating at least 13 out of the 15 days of this series. The Headingley and Lord's Test matches saw India crumble under pressure on the final day. There are plenty of factors that led to India's defeat at the 'Mecca of Cricket'. The visitors displayed a very strong fighting spirit, but England ended up winning the game by the 'barest of the margins'.

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Extras Lead To India's Downfall In Lord's

Ball change controversy, heated exchanges, injury scares, and time wastage, the Lord's Test had everything that a cricket fan could've asked for. Despite India crumbling under pressure on the final day of the game, things went down the wire, to the final session of the match. Batting collapse was not the only reason that led to India's downfall in the Lord's Test.

The Indian team conceded a total of 63 extras (31 in the first innings and 32 in the second innings) in the game as compared to England, who gave away only 30 extras (12 in the first innings and 18 in the second innings). If analyzed closely, then the difference of extras conceded by both the teams amounts to 33, and India eventually lost the game by 22 runs. The Lord's Test is a hard-hitting reality check for the Indian team that every run matters and counts, and they will need to work on this before they walk out to play the 4th Test in Manchester.

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Shubman Gill Highlights The Biggest Reason Behind India's Loss

Indian captain Shubman Gill acknowledged the fact that 193 wasn't a very big total for the Indian team to get in the final innings of the game. Gill also pointed out towards the fact that India were strongly placed in the first innings of the game. A lead of 80–100 runs might have allowed them to win the Lord's Test comfortably, but Rishabh Pant's run-out in the first innings changed the complexion of the match.