Chasing Ghosts + Pink-Ball Fury: A Tale of Two Test Realities

Chasing Ghosts

You couldn’t have scripted a better scene as India walked off the field late on day four of the third Test. England bowled out for just 192, and looked stunned. The Barmy Army fell silent, unable to make sense of the carnage that had just unfolded. Six wickets had fallen for fewer than 40 runs, in a collapse that felt eerily similar to the ones India had endured earlier in the series. But this time, it was England reeling. The door had swung open, and India kicked it down, seizing control of the series with a chance to go 2-1 up. A result that many in England had dismissed as impossible now hung in the balance, and the bravado of former players who had predicted an English whitewash suddenly rang hollow.

However, there is no greater myth in cricket than the illusion of momentum. The speed of its arrival is only mirrored by that of its departure. True to its nature, this enigmatic motion reared its ugly head during the waning lights of the fourth day. 

The first over of India’s second innings made one thing clear: this chase was never going to be a stroll. As it often does, the Lord’s surface had begun to crack and crumble after four days of wear, turning the pitch into a minefield. The new ball danced off the seam, jagging unpredictably and bouncing awkwardly. Chris Woakes opened with a probing, near-perfect maiden. Then came Jofra Archer, reminding the world why raw pace and bounce remain priceless in Test cricket. Charging in at 141 kilometers per hour, he banged one short, rearing it into Jaiswal’s grille. The top edge was inevitable. So was the dismissal. Jaiswal walked back, and England had their early strike.

But India refused to blink.

At 39 for 1 with under an hour to go, they looked composed, in control, and unbothered. The plan was simple: survive now, cash in later. Once the ball softened and the fifth-day pitch slowed down, the target would come into reach. All they needed was patience. The chase was alive, and so was the tension.

India ended the day at 57-4. Two beautiful nip-backers from Brydon Carse trapped Shubman Gill and Karun Nair in their crease, feet frozen and stumps under threat. Both fell lbw within three overs. Captain Gill, fresh off a run-fest at Edgbaston, looked uneasy throughout the Test and never settled in. Akash Deep, India's nightwatchman, fell on the final ball of the day. Once again, India found themselves at the bottom of the mountain, requiring a herculean effort to win the game.

In the end, one man’s resistance wasn’t enough. Ravindra Jadeja gave everything he had, but his defiant stand ended with a heartbreakingly tame dismissal. A soft prod, a slow trickle off the bat, and the ball rolled gently back to kiss the stumps just hard enough to knock the bails off. His Headingley moment, the Indian echo of Ben Stokes, ended not with a roar, but with a whisper.

England's bowlers were relentless. Captain Ben Stokes led from the front, grinding through 19.2 overs on Day 5 with sheer force of will. Jofra Archer’s three key strikes broke the spine of the chase, while Shoaib Bashir, bowling through pain after dislocating a finger earlier in the day, returned to torment the tail. They didn’t just bowl; they hunted.

KL Rahul and Jadeja combined for 100 of India’s 172 runs. No one else offered resistance. That left Jadeja stranded, forced to face at least four balls every over, unable to attack or rotate the strike with any freedom. It was a slow suffocation.

Now, the question looms: can India fight back and level the series, or is the collapse a sign of things to come? The answer is coming, but not quietly.

India heads to Old Trafford with everything on the line and a young captain under the spotlight. Shubman Gill, the series’ leading run-scorer, has dazzled in moments but fallen cheaply in three out of five innings. When he gets going, he’s untouchable. But if India is to level the series, or win it, Gill needs to bring consistency, not just flashes of brilliance.

The pressure is mounting, and the questions are only getting louder. Jasprit Bumrah began this tour on a three-Test limit. Now, with India trailing 2-1 and injuries ruling out Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh, can they afford to rest their ace again? Then there’s Karun Nair. Does he hold onto his spot, or is it time to shake up the middle order?

India has two Tests to save the series. Fight back, or fold. That’s the equation.

Old Trafford will have the answer.

Pink-Ball Fury

While India and England were locked in a Test-match classic at Lord's, a bloodbath was unfolding halfway across the world at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Pink-ball Tests are unforgiving, and this one was no exception. All 24 played so far have produced results, but few as brutal as this. 

Having been handily beaten in the first two Tests, the West Indies came into Sabina Park believing this was their chance to finally strike back. After all, their most iconic win in recent memory had come against this very opponent in the pink-ball format, a tense 8-run victory that leveled the 2023-24 series in Australia.

After each team's initial innings, the West Indies fancied themselves a shot. Their fearsome pace attack continued to wreak havoc against the vulnerable Aussie lineup, wrapping them up for a mere 225, buoyed by a 4-fer from Shamar Joseph and 3 apiece from Jayden Seals and Justin Greaves. Although the West Indies managed only 143 in their first innings, a flicker of hope still remained. Their quicks had terrorised the Aussie batters all series long, and all they needed was one final burst to shut them down and give their batsmen a relatively easy total to chase. 

And credit to the bowlers, that’s exactly what they did.

No Australian batter, except one, crossed 20 in the second innings.

Cameron Green’s unbeaten 42 may go down as one of the most underappreciated innings of the year. On paper, it looks pedestrian. In reality, it was a masterclass in survival. It was the kind of knock that felt worth triple its number, especially on a pitch that seemed determined to throw up a demon every few deliveries.  On a flat track, it would’ve been forgettable. Here, it was priceless.

The two Josephs, Shamar and Alzarri, bowled like men possessed. Relentless, hostile, and brimming with venom, they combined for 9 wickets in the second innings and sent Australia crashing to 121 all out. The final ball of the innings, a searing yorker from Shamar that clattered into Hazlewood’s stumps, was a moment of pure West Indian joy.

With just 203 to chase, the door was open. It was narrow, sure, and creaking under pressure, but it wasn’t shut. The odds were long, but not astronomical. West Indies had done it before to this very team, in this very format, showcasing that Australia were far from untouchable under lights.

What unfolded at Sabina Park defied reason, rhythm, and resistance. It was the kind of cricketing carnage that doesn't just end games, it echoes through time.

The final act of this pink-ball Test wasn’t a collapse. It was a capitulation, a disintegration under floodlights that felt less like a cricket match and more like a surgical execution. The West Indies, chasing a modest 204, were bowled out for 27 in just 14.3 overs, their lowest Test total in history and the second-lowest by any side in the history of test cricket.

At the center of it all stood a man playing his 100th Test.

Mitchell Starc has always been theatrical in how he bends a ball to his will. But under the Kingston lights, he delivered something even more potent: a spell that felt cinematic, borderline mythic. This wasn’t just a five-for. It was a masterclass in left-arm fast bowling, a stretch that will live forever in pink-ball lore.

His opening over was less a spell and more a prophecy. In his 100th Test, the left-arm quick reached back into memory, conjuring echoes of Brisbane 2021–22, when he flattened Rory Burns with the first ball of the Ashes. But this wasn’t a throwback. It was sharper, scarier, and even more surgical. First, he induced an edge from Campbell with a delivery angling across. Then came Anderson, undone by a late, thudding inswinger that would’ve uprooted a sapling. Next, Louis squared up and pinned in front by another darting missile. Three wickets in six balls. The scoreboard read 0/3; the chase was over before it had ever begun.

By the time Starc returned for his second over, he had already devoured half the top order. He wasn’t done. Shai Hope, perhaps the only remaining hope, lasted just one ball. Another late inswinger, another thud on the pad, another three reds on DRS. Gone. Starc had four.

Forget rhythm. This was venom. Every delivery, pitching on a length and darting both ways, was textbook but cruel. Not one delivery wasted. Not one moment of relief for the West Indies. He wasn’t just taking wickets, he was dealing in devastation. He would finish with 6 for 9 in 7.3 overs, including his 400th Test wicket, and the fastest five-wicket haul in Test history, completed in just 15 balls.

If Starc drove in the nails, Scott Boland brought the hammer.

The ever-unassuming Victorian entered the attack with the scoreboard in free fall. What followed was cold, calculated brilliance. Greaves edged to second slip. Shamar Joseph was trapped in front. Then came Warrican, stumps flattened by a sharp one that jagged in off the seam. Hat-trick. No fuss. No theatrics. Just obliteration.

At 26, the West Indies were one run shy of equaling the lowest total in Test history. Seales pushed for a single, eluding the ignominious record. But fittingly, it was Starc who ended it all.

It was complete heartbreak for the West Indies. Their bowlers had done everything and more to claw their side into contention every single game of this series. But just as their batters had done over and over again, they blinked. Chasing 204, they didn’t just fall short. They crumbled. Not to pressure. Not to pitch. But to Starc.

They weren’t chasing a target. They were trying to survive a storm. And none of them did.

Two and a half days. That’s all it took. The curtain falls on Sabina Park. But the echo of Starc’s spell will linger forever.