India’s Fourth-Innings Failures Continue Abroad

India’s struggle to close out Test matches, particularly in the fourth innings, once again cost them dearly as they fell to a 22-run defeat against England at Lord’s in the third Test. Chasing a target of 193, India crumbled under pressure despite having a realistic chance of victory with just a steady first session required. This loss not only gave England a 2-1 lead in the series but also spotlighted a persistent weakness in India’s overseas Test performances—failure to finish games after gaining the upper hand. It was a case of déjà vu for fans, as collapses in both innings handed England the initiative. In the previous Test at Leeds, India had been dominating at 430/3, with three centurions leading the charge. What followed was a stunning collapse as they lost seven wickets for just 31 runs, getting bowled out for 471. The second innings told a similar story—seven wickets lost for 77 runs, and the bowlers couldn’t defend a 371-run target. Dropped catches compounded the misery, allowing England to chase it down with five wickets to spare. India’s inability to handle pressure in fourth innings is not new. In 2022, South Africa chased down over 200 runs twice on pace-friendly surfaces in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In Birmingham the same year, England chased 378, and in 2024 at Bengaluru, India went from 408/3 to 462 all out, losing to New Zealand—their first home Test loss to them since 1988. Historically, chasing targets in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) has proved difficult. India has only won 11 out of 73 fourth-innings chases there, and only five of those involved targets over 100. Their most famous chase—328 in Brisbane against Australia—remains an exception rather than the rule. The record includes more heartbreaks: bowled out for 112 chasing 176 in Galle (2015), failing to chase 147 in Mumbai (2024), and losing in Cape Town (2018) while chasing 208. Even manageable targets, like 245 in Southampton (2018), have seen collapses. Captain Shubman Gill admitted in the post-match conference that lapses in key sessions cost them the match. “We’ve won more sessions across these Tests, but the ones we lost went really bad. The margins are small, but we must find consistency,” he said. India now face a must-win scenario in Manchester. A defeat there would hand England the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, making the final Test at The Oval irrelevant. Unless the team learns to handle pressure and avoid recurring collapses, their dream of dominating away Tests will remain elusive.