Former national selector Sambaran Banerjee and ex-India batter Arun Lal believe England skipper Ben Stokes’s grit and luck played vital roles in India’s 22-run defeat in the third Test against England at Lord’s on Monday.
“We lost to Ben Stokes, and ill luck is another reason. India lost after Nitish Kumar Reddy got out. He was sent in as a lower order batter and I did not like it. Stokes’s energy is unbelievable. He bowled like a war horse. He was almost a one-man army on the fifth day, bowled relentlessly at one line. He knew exactly what he was doing,” Banerjee, 71, told mid-day.
Lal, 69, blamed it squarely on destiny because he felt Shubman Gill & Co played well. “Destiny is too powerful to overcome. We did not play badly, we could have won. We must give credit to the tail-enders, who fought like tigers even after losing seven wickets. It’s just bad luck. Don`t forget that the score was level after the first innings [both teams were bowled out for 387 in the first innings], so there wasn’t much of a difference between the two teams. But, India should have scored those 193 runs. Our batters need to introspect and find out why we could not get those runs,” said Lal.
