London [UK], July 15 : Ravindra Jadeja put up a strong fight, the tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj punched way above their weight and batting averages, but yet Team India fell short by 22 runs in a run chase of just 193 at the 'Home of Cricket', the Lord's and are trailing in the series 1-2.
Since the retirement of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, despite the presence of superstar Virat Kohli and rock-solid batters like KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant, it seems the Team India has been facing post-Tendulkar era blues. Since December 2013, Team India has chased down 150-plus run target in Tests successfully only twice, losing 17 times and drawing on seven occasions.
Tendulkar retired from Test cricket in November 2013.
A memorable came against Australia in Brisbane back in 2021, with Shubman Gill (91) and Rishabh Pant (89*) stepping up to help India chase down 328 and help them win the series 2-1. They denied Australia their win at one of their biggest fortresses for the first time in around 32 years.
The next such victory came in Ranchi last year against England, with half-centuries from skipper Rohit Sharma (55) and Gill (52*) and a patient 39* by then one-Test-old Dhruv Jurel helping India chase 192 runs and winning the series 3-1.
India has lost several matches while chasing some really easy targets under 250, like 193 against England at Birmingham in 2018 (all out for 162), 245 against England at Southampton in 2018 (all out for 184), 176 runs against Sri Lanka at Galle back in 2015 (all out for 112), 208 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018 (all out for 135) and 231 runs against England at Hyderabad in 2024 (all out for 202 runs).
Will India break their poor chasing to regain some momentum in the series during the final two matches of England series?
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