Shubman Gill breaks silence on Jasprit Bumrah's availability for 4th Test, blames KL Rahul & Co. for Lord's defeat

India National Cricket Team captain Shubman Gill has opened up on the pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah's availability for the Manchester Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.

Team India faced a heartbreaking 22-run loss in the third Test match against Team England to go down 1-2 in the five-match series. The next match of the series will begin on July 23 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Also Read: Watch: Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja break down after heartbreaking Lord’s Test loss; Zak Crawley wins hearts

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India lose a thriller at Lord's

India were invited to bowl first in the match after losing the toss and the Jasprit Bumrah-led attack did a decent job in the first innings.

The visitors bundled out the Three Lions for 387 in 112.3 overs, ensuring that they buried England's Bazball approach at Lord's. Jasprit Bumrah, as usual, was India's top performer with his five-wicket haul while Mohammed Siraj (2/85), Nitish Kumar Reddy (2/62), and Ravindra Jadeja (1/29) also picked up wickets.

With the bat, India matched England's score of 387 in 119.2 overs - the ninth such instance in Test history. KL Rahul played a wonderful knock of 100 runs and was the only centurion in the innings. Rishabh Pant (74) and Ravindra Jadeja (72) also batted brilliantly for India to help them equal England's first innings score.

In the third innings, the Indian bowling unit delivered an incredible performance and restricted the hosts to 192 on the fourth day to give the batters a great chance for the Lord's Test win.

Washington Sundar (4/22), Jasprit Bumrah (2/38), Mohammed Siraj (2/31), Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/20), and Akash Deep (1/30) did a good job with the ball.

In the final innings, Indian batters delivered a horrible performance, and despite great fight from Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah, India got bowled out for 170.

Extremely proud - Shubman Gill on India's efforts

Speaking to Michael Atherton in the post-match presentation ceremony, India skipper Shubman Gill said that he was proud of his team's efforts and was confident of them chasing down the target. Shubman Gill said:

"Extremely proud. Five days of hard-fought cricket and it comes down to the last session, last wicket and tremendously proud of the effort.

"I was pretty confident (about the chase). With plenty of batting left I was pretty confident, but the way England kept attacking, we wanted to have maybe a couple of 50-run partnerships in our top-order, we weren't able to do that and they played better than us. There is always hope as long as there is a batsman batting, there is always some hope, because the target wasn't massive and one 50-60 run partnership we knew we would be back in."

I think he was batting really well with the tail - Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill further showered rich praise on Ravindra Jadeja for his exceptional 61* in the last innings. He said:

"He (Jadeja) is very experienced, and didn't want to give him any message. I think he was batting really well with the tail and I just wanted him and the tail-enders to bat as long as possible. At one point, we thought if we get a lead of 80-100 that might be crucial for us, because we knew the fifth day on this wicket might not be that easy to chase 150-200, so we were thinking if we can get a lead of 80 runs we would be in a good position."

Shubman Gill further blamed the batters for their poor performance in the last innings for the defeat. When asked about Jasprit Bumrah's availability for the Manchester Test, Shubman Gill said that they will make an announcement regarding it pretty soon.

"I think the last one hour (yesterday), we could have applied ourselves a bit better, especially the last 2 wickets that fell. And even this morning, the way they came out with the plans, we were hoping for one 50-run partnership and if we had gotten one 50-run partnership in the top order, then things would have been easier for us. Sometimes, the series scorecard doesn't really reflect how well you have played.

"I think we played some really good cricket and I think it is going to be an even exciting series from hereon. You will get to know about it soon (when asked if Bumrah would play in the next Test)," he said.