"It will be premature to be harsh on him" - WV Raman's massive remark on star Indian batter after ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

Former Indian batter WV Raman defended opener Yahasvi Jaiswal despite his twin failures in the third Test against England at Lord's. Ace pacer Jofra Archer dismissed the youngster in both innings for 13 and 0, respectively.

Jaiswal was particularly disappointing in the second innings, when he perished playing an ill-advised pull shot off his seventh delivery with India chasing only 193 for victory. His early dismissal proved costly as India suffered a gut-wrenching 22-run defeat to go 1-2 down in the best-of-five series.

Talking about the young Indian opener in an interview with Revsportz, Raman said:

"I think Jaiswal has done well so far in his Test career. It will be premature to be harsh on him because of a couple of failures."

Jaiswal scored a breathtaking century in the series opener at Leeds and a brisk 87 in India's 336-run win in the second Test at Edgbaston.

Meanwhile, skipper Shubman Gill endured a poor outing at Lord's after his record-breaking heroics at Leeds and Edgbaston.

When asked if his verbal exchange with England opener Zak Crawley at the closing stages of Day 3 affected his batting, Raman responded:

"These were the same bowlers he (Gill) got runs against in the first two Test matches, almost 600 runs. I think we are reading too much unnecessarily. It’s just that he had a failure. He is good enough to score big runs in the remaining two matches."

Gill scored only 22 runs across the two innings at Lord's following a remarkable 585 runs in the opening two Tests at an average of over 146.

"Take a call based on value addition rather than resorting to knee-jerk reaction" - WV Raman on changes for the fourth Test

WV Raman believes the Indian management must make changes that add value to the side in the fourth Test. Despite dominating several portions of the first three games, the visitors find themselves on the brink of a series defeat.

"Just because we lost at Lord’s, doesn’t necessarily mean we need to make changes. You only make a change when you think who is preparing hard and can add value to the team. As for changes in the XI, it will depend on the conditions. It is always better for the team management to take a call based on value addition rather than resorting to knee-jerk reaction," said WV Raman (via the aforementioned source).

He added:

"Karun Nair has been given a fair number of chances. There might be a rethink about his place at Old Trafford."

Karun Nair has been one of the only Indian batters to have struggled in the series, averaging under 22 in three Tests. The fourth Test at Manchester will begin a week from now on July 23.