Sourav Ganguly, former India captain, has expressed his unhappiness with the visitors’ failure to chase down a mark of 193 in the third Test against England at Lord’s. According to Ganguly, they ought to have pursued the objective given the caliber of their batting lineup.
England defeated India by 22 resounding runs in a nail-biting Test at Lord s on Monday, July 14 to take a 2-1 series lead in the five-match series. Having to score 193 to win, India was on 58-4 at the start of Day 5 and within the first session collapsed to 82-7 and was finally dismissed during the second session, after a few more runs had been put on the board, for 170in 74.5 overs.
Sourav Ganguly discussed his opinions on India’s close defeat in the Lord’s Test at a press conference for the Indian Racing Festival (IRF) Driver Draft in 2025. According to ANI, he said:
“They should have got this 190 [193], and when you saw [Ravindra] Jadeja guts it out and fight and score the runs, the batting quality in this team is absolutely brilliant, and I think they will be more disappointed than I am because it was an opportunity to get 2-1 up in the series against England.
Sourav Ganguly
“Two more matches to go. I am sure they have left disappointed not getting 190, especially with the quality of batsmanship there is in the dressing room.”
Sourav Ganguly
End of a thrilling Test match at Lord’s.#TeamIndia fought hard but it’s England who win the 3rd Test by 22 runs.
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/X4xIDiSUqO#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/KkLlUXPja7
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2025After India collapsed to 82-7 on the final day at Lord’s, Jadeja (61* off 181) restored the team’s spirits with valuable support from the lower order. The seasoned all-rounder added 23 runs for the final wicket with Mohammed Siraj (4 off 30), 35 runs with Jasprit Bumrah (5 off 53), and 30 runs with Nitish Kumar Reddy (13 off 53).
Sourav Ganguly praised Jadeja’s contribution, calling him a unique talent who has greatly enhanced his batting with practice. The previous captain of India stated:
“Sad from a team’s point of view, but Jadeja has been exceptional. He is going to continue to play for India as long as he bats and performs like this. He has been around for a long time. Almost 80 Test matches and more than 200 one-day games.
Sourav Ganguly
“And now you can see if batting, bowling, fielding, you know, he’s a special player and his batting has really improved over the years with experience and quality. He was actually a top-order batsman for Saurashtra in his younger days and then became a left-arm spinner. So he is a special player and is a very important part of this team.”
Sourav Ganguly
A determined and well fought innings
Took #TeamIndia close
Chin up, Ravindra Jadeja 👍 👍
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/X4xIDiSmBg#ENGvIND | @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/jGpfgHAeNM
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2025In his last four Test innings, Jadeja has scored half-centuries. He hit 72 in the first innings of the Lord’s Test before his undefeated 61. He achieved scores of 89 and 69* in the last test in Birmingham.
Ravindra Jadeja Reaches Huge Milestone with Gritty Knock in 3rd Test vs England
Ravindra Jadeja may not have been able to push India over the line at Lord s in spite of his efforts but he did come to a very large personal milestone. The left-handed batsman made 7,000 runs in international cricket, only the fourth player to score the elusive 7,000 runs and 600 wickets in both forms.
In 361 games, Jadeja has amassed 7,018 runs and 611 wickets in international cricket. The distinguished list also includes Indian legend Kapil Dev. He has played in 356 international matches, scoring 9,031 runs and taking 687 wickets. The other names on the list are Shaun Pollock (7,386 runs and 829 wickets from 423 matches) and Shakib Al Hasan (14,730 runs and 712 wickets from 447 matches).
