Just before lunch on Day 3 of the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s, Indian opener KL Rahul shared his thoughts on the misunderstanding with Rishabh Pant. The match was decided by Pant’s run-out for 74, even though India was able to match England’s first-innings total of 387.
KL Rahul accepted full responsibility for the dismissal, acknowledging that the regrettable mix-up was caused by his haste to bring up a century before the lunch break. Rahul and Pant’s tenacious 141-run partnership pulled India back into the game after they had fallen down 242 runs at the beginning of the day.
With KL Rahul at 98 and only one over remaining in the session, the two talked about focussing on Shoaib Bashir to assist Rahul hit his hundred and speed up scoring as lunchtime drew near. However, Pant was caught short of his crease after a poorly timed single in an effort to swiftly rotate strike and give Rahul the opportunity.
A few overs before to it, there was a discussion. I promised Pant that I would try to get my hundred before lunch. And I believed I had an excellent chance of getting it since Bashir bowled that final over before lunch, but, sadly, I hit straight to the outfield,” KL Rahul remarked following Day 3, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
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KL Rahul later acknowledged that he could have put away the short, wide delivery for a boundary.
To give KL Rahul another chance at his century, Pant tried rotating the strike after the ball missed the rope. Rather, the situation backfired as, shortly before noon, Stokes ran Pant out with a deft fielding move from cover point.
I had the opportunity to knock the ball for a boundary. After that, all he wanted to do was rotate strike and try to get me back on strike. However, a run-out at that point significantly altered the momentum, thus it shouldn’t have happened. We were both disappointed by it. No one likes to lose their wicket in that manner, of course,” Rahul continued.
India has undoubtedly put themselves in a bad position by making rash mistakes and passing up crucial chances to take the lead, as the series is now tied at one. In the end, the visitors lost an opportunity to establish control at Lord’s because Rahul admitted that he and the other Indian hitters did not capitalise on their beginnings.
Naturally, there is some disappointment because we were in a great position until well before tea time. It goes without saying that after our lengthy relationship, Rishabh and I left [quickly]—he left right before lunch, and I left right after. That wasn’t ideal, so you had set batsmen in the top five who had started. In a Test match, you want one or both of them to continue and produce a lot of runs, Rahul stated.
Rahul became just the second Indian after Dilip Vengsarkar to record multiple hundreds at Lord’s when he finished the post-lunch session with his tenth Test century. The joy was short-lived, though, as he was disqualified for precisely 100 after edging Bashir to slip two balls later.
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