ENG vs IND 2025: 3 reasons why India lost Lord's Test against England

We experienced an unforgettable Test match between England and India at Lord's in London, which was the third Test of the five-match Test series, Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. All five days of the Test match were memorable, while England finished the thriller with a 22-run win. 

While the series was level at 1-1 before this third Test of the series, England captain Ben Stokes chose to bat first after winning the toss in the Test match. England scored 387 all out, and the visitors India also replied with 387 all out in their first innings. While England scored 192 runs in their second innings, the visitors failed to chase the 193-run fourth innings target and were bowled out for 170 runs. 

Now, we are going through three key reasons why India lost the 2025 Lord's Test against England. 

Rishabh Pant run-out

 

The first session of the third day was running smoothly for Team India, as it started a dominating moment for the visitors until the very last action before the lunch break, when the dangerous batter Rishabh Pant lost his wicket due to an unnecessary run-out. It was an important day for both teams in the Test match, and India started the day at 145/3 in reply to England's first innings total of 387 all out. 

Indian Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant had a strong 141-run partnership for the fourth wicket with the opener KL Rahul. As Rahul was batting at 98 runs, Pant was hurrying to give his partner the opportunity to complete his deserving century before the lunch break. It was a risky run for both, as the best English fielder, skipper Ben Stokes, was charging on the ball, and he brilliantly chose to run out Pant at the non-striker end, and his direct throw got that wicket. While injured Pant was dismissed for 74 runs, Rahul was out for 100 runs early in the second session.

Although the battle went till the last moment of the Test match, Pant's dismissal somehow threw away India's potential dominant moment in the game. That partnership had everything to take the game away from the hosts, and both captains also believed that the dismissal was the key turning point of the match. 

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Poor start in fourth innings

 

Chasing down the 193 runs in the fourth innings on the tough batting pitch, the visitors had a poor start, as they ended the fourth day at 58/4. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 13 runs during India's first innings of the match, failed to open his book in the fourth innings after his poor pull shot produced the first wicket for England in the second over of the innings. 

It was Jaiswal's first ball against Jofra Archer in that innings, and the Indian opener chose a wrong pull shot against the 141 kmph back-of-the-length delivery. Jaiswal wasn't in any perfect position for that shot, and his poor shot selection gave a simple catch to the keeper Jamie Smith, who easily grabbed it. Just like the first innings of the Test match, Archer once again dismissed Jaiswal in his first over.

The no.3 batter Karun Nair once again built up the hope for his team with a solid start, but lost his wicket in another poor fashion. After the crucial 36-run partnership for the second wicket with the opener KL Rahul, while visitors India were looking to end the fourth day confidently, Nair had a foolish-like lbw dismissal that forced the visitors to fight against the nerves. While Brydon Carse started the innings excellently, Nair had no clue how to face a wicket-line delivery, as he left the ball without offering a shot, and it hit his pad without any doubt on the height. These two dismissals hurt the visitors a lot in the fourth innings, especially when any team suffers a very close defeat in a Test match.   

Too much extras

 

India lost the Test match by 22 runs and conceded a total of 63 runs in extras in two innings, including a total of 36 runs in byes. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, the Test vice-captain, couldn't keep wicket for most of the match due to his left index finger injury, and Dhruv Jurel replaced him as the wicketkeeper for the match. Jurel impressed with his keeping, but India conceded 32 runs in byes during his presence as a wicketkeeper. However, it would be very unjust to blame Jurel for most of the byes, as the wicketkeeping was always a challenge at the venue, especially when the pitch played a lot of different roles to guide the deliveries and the popular Lord's slope.

But it is very much sure that the extras hurt the visitors hugely in the Test match, including the massive number of byes, recording their third-most byes in a Test match in Indian cricket. Apart from huge byes, India conceded 19 runs in leg byes, five runs in wides, and three runs in no-balls in this Test match.