'They didn't bat well...': Mohammad Azharuddin takes brutal dig on Indian batters' performance in Lord's Test

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin was highly critical of the top-order batters following the side's 22-run defeat against England in the third Test of the series at Lord's. Though the Men in Blue had managed to post a great total of 387 in their first innings, they succumbed to the pressure on the second occasion and got bowled out for 170 while chasing down the 193-run target.

India's top-order batters were the ones who especially gave a poor performance as except for KL Rahul and Karun Nair, none of them were able to even get a double-digit score. The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were all dismissed cheaply, leading India to get restricted to 82/7 at one stage.

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Azharuddin felt that the lack of strong partnerships costed the visitors big time and made the target of 193 look even more tough than it actually was.

"I don't think we batted well. Don't think we batted positively in the second innings. If you see, we lost 4 wickets at the end of the day. And then coming into the fifth day, it was always going to be tough, not easy. We needed some good partnerships, as they always say. You can always say anybody can be wise after the event," Azharuddin told PTI.

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However, on the other hand, Azharuddin heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja and tailenders Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj. While Jadeja played a robust knock of 61 runs from 181 deliveries, both Bumrah and Siraj also immensely frustrated the England bowlers by not giving away their wickets easily and taking India closer to the target. Though they managed to take the hosts to the limit, in the end their efforts fell short.

Azharuddin was impressed with Jadeja and Indian tailenders

“I must admit and congratulate the tailenders for really putting up that brave front. Ravindra Jadeja really batted well. But I thought that maybe when Root and Bashir were bowling, he could have gone after them in those 4-5 overs. If he had gotten another 15-20 runs, the job would have been much easier. We cannot complain about his batting. The way he batted, stood there like a rock and at the end of the day, the result wasn't much forthcoming for the Indian team. We faltered in the second innings. Rahul batted well too. But at some point, we allowed good bowlers to dominate,” Azharuddin added.

With the victory at Lord's, England took a 2-1 lead in the series and if they go on to win the fourth Test in Manchester as well, then they will win the series before even playing the fifth and final match. It remains to be seen if Shubman Gill & Co. will be able to make a comeback in the ongoing tour in the remaining two games.