"They should have got this" - Former captain disappointed over India's failure to chase 193 in Lord's Test against England

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has expressed his disappointment over the visitors' failure to chase down a target of 193 in the third Test against England at Lord's. Ganguly stated that with the kind of quality in their batting line-up, they should have chased down the target.

England beat India by 22 runs in a thrilling Test match at Lord's on Monday, July 14 to go 2-1 up in the five-match series. Chasing a target of 193, India began Day 5 on 58-4 and soon crumbled to 82-7 in the first session before eventually being bowled out for 170 in 74.5 overs.

Speaking during a press event of the 2025 season Indian Racing Festival (IRF) Driver Draft, Ganguly shared his thoughts on India's narrow loss in the Lord's Test. He commented (as quoted by ANI):

"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.

"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," the former India batter added.

After India crumbled to 82-7 on the last Day at Lord's, Jadeja (61* off 181) lifted the team's hopes with able assistance from the lower order. The veteran all-rounder added 30 runs with Nitish Kumar Reddy (13 off 53), 35 runs with Jasprit Bumrah (5 off 53) and 23 runs for the last wicket with Mohammed Siraj (4 off 30).

Hailing Jadeja's contribution, Ganguly termed him as a special player who has improved his batting significantly with experience. The former India skipper said:

"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.

"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," Ganguly concluded.

Jadeja has registered half-centuries in his last four Test innings. Before his unbeaten 61, he scored 72 in the first innings of the Lord's Test. In the previous Test in Birmingham, he registered scores of 89 & 69*.

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Ravindra Jadeja achieved massive milestone with gritty knock in 3rd ENG vs IND 2025 Test

While Jadeja failed to take India over the line at Lord's despite his best efforts, he did reach a huge personal milestone. The left-handed batter completed 7,000 runs in international cricket, becoming only the fourth player to achieve the double of 7,000 runs and 600 wickets across formats.

Jadeja has 7,018 runs and 611 wickets in international cricket from 361 matches. Indian legend Kapil Dev also features in the illustrious list. He has 9,031 runs and 687 wickets from 356 international matches. Shakib Al Hasan (14,730 runs and 712 wickets from 447 matches) and Shaun Pollock (7,386 runs and 829 wickets from 423 matches) are the other two names on the list.