Iron Man Stokes outlasts lion-hearted Jadeja as England win Lord's thriller
By Alagappan Muthu (now) Matt Roller and Valkerie Baynes (earlier)Stokes, Jadeja, Magic
Six years ago, Ben Stokes raised his hands in apology. Now he was clenching his fists in triumph. On the anniversary of the day when he made England world champions, he found them a route to victory again. It felt like he couldn't rest without it.
He bowled seven overs with the second new ball on Saturday, and the coach Brendon McCullum dispatched a member of his staff down to the boundary line to remind him that he is still flesh and bone. On Monday, nobody dared to interfere. Stokes pushed through a 9.2-over spell, came back to deliver a 10-over spell and was essentially such a lord and master of proceedings that a member of the opposition felt the need to ask his permission for a bathroom break.
Ravindra Jadeja was the one who needed to sprint off. Apparently, nature doesn't care if you're the only thing standing between your team and defeat. It comes calling. Just as a whole line-up of Englishmen did, looking for his wicket, or even just a mistake. But nothing was forthcoming. India's allrounder was every bit as heroic as his red-haired, red-faced, red-hot counterpart, scoring a fourth successive half-century and shepherding the tail towards something legendary. But it wasn't to be.
Five overs after tea, a man with a broken finger got the ball to spin off the middle of the No. 11's bat and onto the stumps. Lord's. On 14 July. Is not a place for the faint of hearts. Mohammed Siraj did not belong on his feet. Sorrow engulfing him. Shoaib Bashir invaded the sky. Joy propelling him. He had just sealed the closest Test match victory this old place has ever seen.
Full report will be up on the site soon
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England win!
Shoaib Bashir with a broken finger bowls Mohammed Siraj, who just slumps over his bat, recalling images of how James Neesham did the same here six years ago in a World Cup final. Harry Brook is there consoling Siraj. Stokes comes up to tap Siraj on his chest. It's all a sign of how bizarre the end was.
Siraj defends the ball with soft hands, so soft that it lands down by his feet, spins behind and hits leg stump.
And the wicket taker? A man with a broken finger.
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Nail-biting stuff
Siraj and Jadeja remain attached to the crease. They've added 22 runs together to bring the runs needed to just 24. Lord's is alive with chants of "Indiaaaaaa! Indiaaaa!"
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Tea: India 30 runs away, England need one wicket
India had two wickets standing at the end of lunch on day five, and still 81 runs away. But Ravindra Jadeja refused to let them buckle, scoring his fourth successive half-century and from the fact he didn't bring out the sword celebration, it was clear that he had other priorities.
Ben Stokes was in the middle of bowling himself into the ground, a 10-over spell leading England to tea after an 11-over spell had made them favourites in the morning. Neither man deserves to come off second best in this battle, which also included a bizarre moment when Stokes, in addition to figuring out where to set his fields and whether his body could take the workload he was putting himself through, had to sign off on Jadeja's bathroom schedule. He did. Begrudgingly. India were nine down at the time. And 33 runs away.
Tea was pushed half an hour back when England broke an eighth-wicket partnership that was stubborn enough to last 132 balls and eke out 35 runs. Jasprit Bumrah faced 55 balls. Only twice has he faced more deliveries in a Test innings. His new-ball partner Mohammed Siraj showed just as much heart, standing up to a short-ball barrage with two short legs and a leg slip crowding him. Jadeja's leadership helped India's tail survive and now they are tantalisingly close - 30 runs from victory.
Earlier Jofra Archer picked up Rishabh Pant in the third over of play. Stokes struck from the other end to dismiss India's best batter in this game, KL Rahul. Nitish Kumar Reddy stemmed the England tide and it looked like they would be able to go through to lunch with both of their allrounders standing firm but Chris Woakes took the ball and broke through. "Only a matter of time," Harry Brook said while he was trying to unsettle the batters. He remains correct, but England are definitely starting to feel the pressure now.
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Jadeja fifty
4 successive fifties for Ravindra Jadeja now. He hasn't bothered to bring out the sword celebration. He knows something much bigger is at stake. India now only 35 away
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Iron man Stokes
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
Mid-way into his third over the afternoon spell Stokes called Root and was joined by vice-captain Ollie Pope. Bumrah had called for the physio having gloved rising delivery into his chest. It would be difficult to say what exactly transpired except Root probably emphasised the importance of the short-ball plan against Bumrah. The slips and gully fielders were dispersed to the ropes with 6-3 field. Bumrah nearly attempted a hook of a ball that was high over his head and then shadow practie a ramp. At the other end Jadeja was shaking his head anxiously.
Stokes eventually banged in 15 short or short-of-length deliveries but the soft ball and a lifeliess pitch did not actually sting Bumrah who should be given credit to play with soft hands or dropping them quick to defend confidently. Bumrah was not in control for just five of the 15 short balls, but the constant scrutiny finally testd his patience as he attempted a pull against an outside off stump delivery to sky an easy catch. Stokes was man possessed. England were ecstatic. Bumrah took one step at a time as if he was walking on crushed glass. He had worked so hard to extend this compelling contest late into the second session
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Bumrah falls
A determined stand that lasted 132 balls is now ended.
Stokes once again with the wicket. England had tried the traditional lengths and Bumrah had kept them out. England tried those lengths because the pitch wasn't really giving them anything. Eventually Stokes decided he had to bang it into the wicket. It didn't matter how high the ball rose. They just had to try something different.
Bumrah encouraged them when he went for a couple of hooks and his partner Jadeja at the other end just shook his head watching him. Another attempt at the shot gets a top edge and he's gone
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Deficit below 50
Leg byes for four off the last ball of the 59th over. First boundary since the 47.5.
India are now 48 away. Their fans pump up the noise as the ball trickles away to fine leg.
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England made to wait
3 England are No. 3 on a list they don't want to be No. 3. In the last three years, only Zimbabwe and Pakistan have been worse than them at taking the last three wickets
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The pattern
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For four overs (50-54), England have had the field back to Jadeja. He waits till the fourth ball of the over to get the single. Bumrah blocks out the other two.
Bashir gets the ball. He has a finger injury to his non-bowling hand and spent most of the time this morning off the field. It's unlikely he might play the next Test. But he's bowling now with the game going down to the wire
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Bashir stops the pattern from repeating. Stokes has six balls at Bumrah.
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Ooooh Ravi Jadeeeeja
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
Being dogged has been one of key pillars of Jadeja’s longevity and successful career. Barring his celebrations upon reaching a batting landmark, Jadeja does nothing extravagant in his daily job. And his best avatar, his focus, his intensity has usually come to the fore in the toughest of times.
In the morning we did vox pops asking fans at Lord’s who will win and the margin. Among those who picked India, most picked Pant as the man to drive the nail into England’s winning ambition. But it is Jadeja who has withstood all kinds of challenge and pressure and bowling to keep India in with a chance. He has chipped away at the target even as batting partners have come and gone.
In Birmingham Jadeja showed he has tightened his defensive game, playing as late as possible, hands close to his body and leaving as many balls as he can. The flatter nature of the pitches as well as the soft Duke’s have served as allies, but it would be wrong to credit his success to those factors. The urge to hit out must be there surely but Jadeja has not done anything premditaed or instinctive. He has hung in there and enlivened this contest which in the first hour seemed like going England’s way by lunch time.
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Resistance
50 balls and counting, the Jadeja-Bumrah partnership is putting up a resistance. They've also made 19 runs and brought the target closer. 62 runs needed.
The partnership only just survived though. Jadeja was given lbw but DRS saved him, Woakes' ball seaming down the slope had caught him just outside the line of off stump. Immediately after, Jadeja charged out and whacked a six over deep midwicket to humoungous cheers from the India fans. "Oooooh Ravi Jadeeeeeeja!" They sing
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All quiet
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But Archer's bowling and he's getting a 44 over ball to rise up at Jadeja's throat
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Lunch India 112 for 8
England came to Lord's looking for six wickets. They bagged four of them before lunch in an inspired morning's play where their captain Ben Stokes and their returning talinsmanic fast bowler Jofra Archer brought quality, intensity and fire to proceedings.
India were in the mire early when Rishabh Pant, hampered by the injured finger on his left hand, fell on the third over of the day. Three overs later, Stokes got one to nip down the slope at the Nursery end to trap KL Rahul lbw. Stokes bowled a nine-over spell this morning, constantly threatening everyone that made the mistake of standing 22 yards away. This time the England coaching staff weren't interfering with his plans. They just let him do his thing.
Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Reddy got together with the score at 82 for 7. India's hopes looked quite dire at the time, but a packed crowd, with a loud Indian contingent cheered them on with every block, every leave, every run scored. Eventually the ball started to lose its hardness and batting became slightly easier. There were 12 false shots leading to the three wickets in the first hour. But only eight in the second.
Just as it looked like India would go to the break with their last two recognised batters intact, Chris Woakes gave them a different challenge. Swing instead of seam. And eventually he was able to prise Reddy out for 13 off 53. There remained a fair bit of needle through the morning session with Archer giving Pant a send-off, Stokes and Reddy having a fairly amiable chat at the end of overs and Carse and Jadeja actually colliding with each other.
England were on point with their fielding as well, geed on by Stokes who was loathe to let the intensity drop. Archer took a fine one-handed catch, diving to his right to get rid of Washington Sundar.
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Reddy falls
A very determined stand ends on the stroke of lunch. Defence is a thing Reddy might still need to work on, as he prods from his crease and nicks off. Chris Woakes makes a telling contribution in a Test match where it's looked like his stocks in this format were falling. All of Lord's is up in applause as they watch England walk back and into the Long Room.
Jadeja remains standing, but its only the bowlers to give him company. India need 81 more. England two wickets.
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Needle
Jadeja runs into Carse while looking for two.
The collision happened because Jadeja was looking at where the ball had gone. He explained as much to Carse when the two of them got together, sparks flying.
Stokes got in the middle to make sure no one flies off the handle
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Balance shifting?
Thirty five overs in. This is pretty much the point where the ball starts to go soft. England did a lot of work on the ball to keep it new and even at 25 overs it was nipping around. Now - there is still jeopardy - but it's reduced.
False shots in the first hour - 18%
False shots in the second hour - 11%
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Intensity
Stokes is on one of his marathon spells. Eight overs in. Repeatedly targeting Reddy for lbw.
And he's not taking a break once he shifts into the field either, constantly reminding his team to keep the levels up, to keep the batters feeling like they're being enemy lines.
Archer - who had bowled a six-over spell himself - dived full length to keep the pressure on Reddy after he played a lovely square drive. It could've fetched more, but it was only one run.
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Soundtrack
"Not in the IPL now," says Brook, who has been chirping Reddy relentlessly from second slip. "Jaddu's got to score them all"
Reddy's a pretty good batter - when he attacks. Even when he tries to block, there's a feeling that he goes with hard hands, and when he drives, the bat doesn't flow, it punches.
His attacking game is pretty good, which is why he succeeds in the IPL. His defensive game, his ability to handle pressure - he proved he could in Australia when he scored a century against Cummins, Starc and Boland at the MCG. Can he do it again?
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Drinks
India have brought the deficit below 100.
But they've lost Rahul, Pant and Washington in doing so and are left with their last recognised batting pair.
Archer and Stokes have charged at them, a first hour with 18% false shots (12 out of 66 balls)
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Stokes+Archer again
They were front and centre on this day in 2019, turning England into world champions.
They're front and centre again. Archer takes a one-handed diving catch off his own bowling to get rid of Washington and Stokes rushes straight to him for a big bear hug.
When DRS confirmed Rahul's wicket, all of the England team circled around their captain who belted out a war cry. Fists clenched.
It's Archer's turn to vent some of his feelings after a special catch and he fires a few verbals at the new batter Nitish Reddy after he evades a bouncer.
India gave 60 overs of hell to England at Lord's once. It's England's turn to return the favour.
"Only a matter of time here boys," says Harry Brook from the cordon.
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Rahul gone
This is why Stokes the bowler - when he was battling all those injuries - was such a loss for England. He couldn't even think of doing so when they toured India last year. Since a hamstring surgery in January, he's been bowling like a demon, like he wants back all those overs he's lost.
KL Rahul has been batting as well as anybody could. Focused on playing late. Using a straight bat. Refusing to hit anything in the air. His control percentage was 89% when he faced an impossible ball from the England captain.
Pitched about a foot and a half outside off stump, but there's the angle, which Stokes exaggerates by slanting his torso off to his left. And then there's seam movement. Down the slope. Sharp. Feral. Deadly. It generated a false shot. A huge appeal. A long discussion. Was there bat? Was it too high? Root helped there, saying Rahul was way back in the crease. Then it was all up to Stokes again to decide on the review and he went for it.
Three reds is the result
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Stay tuned
The good thing for England - the ball's nipping
The good thing for India - Rahul's still there
The good thing for us - this is gonna be special
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Archer strikes
Pant walks off feeling his left hand again. He really didn't look comfortable. Although there is debate on whether even at fully fit a batter would have been able to negotiate this jaffa from Archer.
It's easy to get carried away with his pace, because it's the first thing that strikes you, and then you look back at his utterly serene bowling action and wonder where it all comes from.
But he has the ability to seam the ball. And seam is the hardest thing to face at 89mph/143kph. You think you have the line covered as the ball comes down, then it pitches and behaves in a way you just aren't prepared for. Bowled defending, past his outside edge.
Archer, who normally races off across the ground when he gets a wicket, started to do so, and then changed directly to lob a few words at Pant as he celebrated. He's normally not aggro but that's proof of how much this game means to him and England right now and maybe also a little bit of tit-for-tat after Gill vented his displeasure at Crawley and Siraj got in Duckett's face.
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A test for Pant
Rishabh Pant is batting. He hasn't kept wicket since injuring the forefinger of his left hand in the first innings of the Test. Part of his focus is on protecting it from any further pain, which is why he pulled his bottom hand off the bat four times in a Jofra Archer over where his pace was up at 144 kph. Perhaps one of those times, he yanked it off before the ball even hit bat.
None of these runs will be easy to get but Pant has a habit of getting them quickly and if he's able to knock 30-40 off, the nerves in that dressing room will settle and the sting in the England attack will fade.
At the moment though, Stokes is in no mood to give anything away. He did not hide any of his displeasure when Archer gave away a cheap leg side boundary fourth ball of the day, but since then it's been very tense.
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Throwback
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Player views
So it's all about basic math now. India need 135 runs. England need six wickets. The weather's behaving. And there's a buzz all around the ground. This is Brydon Carse who whipped the Lord's crowd into a frenzy late last evening.
It was incredible. The atmosphere around the ground was electric, incredibly loud… It leads into today with a lot of exciting around the group.
A full house here at Lord’s, 30-odd thousand. The lads were speaking upstairs and a few of them were saying that walking through that Long Room after yesterday’s play was one of the loudest they’ve heard it. It gives the guys a lot of excitement and energy coming into today.
That ball is only 20-odd overs old. It’s still hard, and we managed to get it swinging last night. We know that the first hour, hour-and-a-half, is going to be important. We’ll come out with a lot of energy.
Over the course of the series, there hasn’t been too much of that [needle between the teams]. Everything has been played in good spirit. When the stakes are on the line and the adrenaline is going, and it’s high-pressure situations, there’s nothing wrong with showing a bit of emotion from both sides, and sometimes that can bring out the best in players. Let’s hope that today, we can bring that same energy out here in the first session.
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Will Bashir bowl?
Matt Roller reports from Lord's
Shoaib Bashir has not fielded since injuring the little finger on his left hand on day three, and has been assessed by England’s medical team.
He was clearly in some pain while batting yesterday – with a reinforced left glove – and is now considered a major doubt for the fourth Test at Old Trafford, but has been bowling on a practice strip this morning and could be an option that Ben Stokes turns to, particularly to left-handers Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.
“He’s ready to bowl,” Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said last night. “The regulation, I believe, is that he can come onto bowl as and when he’s needed, and then if he’s not bowling at any stage, he can then come back off because it’s an external blow. So, should we need him, he will be ready to bowl.”
The main options to replace Bashir in Manchester are Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Jack Leach, while Lancashire’s Tom Hartley could also come into contention on his home ground. Brendon McCullum appeared to rule out the idea of using Jacob Bethell as a spin-bowling allrounder at No. 8 last week, but he could yet become an option depending on conditions.
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Day five: a tie?
Nagraj Gollapdi reports from Lord's
Is that a possibility? The way the Lord’s pitch has behaved especially across the last two days you cannot not factor that. There have been only two tied matches in Test cricket as we know – Australia v West Indies in Brisbane in 1961 and India v Australia in Chennai in 1986. The last tied match in first-class cricket was Gloucestershire v Glamorgan in Cheltenahm in 2024 County Championships. Overall there have been 69 tied matches in first-class cricket
Incidentally, the scores were level in the first innings after India were bowled out for 387, the score England raised after electing to bat. Has there been a Test where scores have been level in both innings? According to BBC Test Match stats guru Andy Zatlzman there have been no ties with both first innings and second innings having the same score in first-class history.
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Stokes magic to end the day
India fans were yelling "Aa-kash-Deep! Aa-kaash-Deep!" to will him on to the close. KL Rahul at the other end was encouraging him with every defensive stoke that he played. All that goodwill matters for nothing against Ben Stokes juju. He has the field set for the short ball, leg gully and short leg in. He sneaks one through fuller and it flattens off stump. Night watch is gone. Four wickets are gone. India 135 runs away. England six wickets. Day five - which is a sellout - is going to be something else.
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England tails up
Joe Root is revving up the crowd and they are only too happy to respond. This is absolute cinema. England sense the chance of another wicket with Akash Deep's promotion. Stokes demonstrative as well, demanding his fielders prevent twos with Rahul on strike.
Also Stokes raaaaaces back to his mark to try and get as many balls in as possible before stumps. Rahul has the chance to do the funniest thing.
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Gill gone
Lord's roared when umpire Reiffel raised the finger for a caught behind appeal against Gill in the 15th over. But Gill reviewed immediately and replays explain why. Daylight between bat and ball and the noise came from bat hitting ground. Now there are shouts of "India jeetega".
Carse in the middle of a lovely spell. He's going full. He's getting significant swing. And it turns out he's also getting significant seam. A ball meant to go away - the seam is pointed towards gully - cuts in sharply, down the slope, and pins Gill on the crease and sends him back lbw. Given out twice. Got saved only once. Lord's roars and Gill is at the centre of drama late in the day yet again in this Test. India feel the jeopardy with 15 mins left and send Akash Deep as the nightwatch.
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Gill gets a thorny welcome
England welcome Shubman Gill with a bouncer field and the bowler bluffs him by going full and the India captain is extremely slow on the front foot and gets beaten. Immediate rise in intensity (and chatter). Half an hour to go. Plenty of drama left. Play peaked in the last six minutes yesterday. Gill was a part of that. He's part of it again, on the receiving end this time.
603 Shubman Gill now has the most runs by an India batter on a tour of England, going past the tally of Rahul Dravid from 2002
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Nair's predicament
Karun Nair made all the right moves in the first innings. It wasn't easy batting against the new ball but he held out and he even produced some pretty sparkling shots. Then, on 40, he got a jaffa and had to contend with the idea of an innings cut short when it could have been so much more - a feeling he probably hates because its an allegory for his Test career as well - a Test career that might well be on the line and his dismissal right now wouldn't have helped. He leaves Brydon Carse and gets out lbw
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Here's Stokes
England have struggled to make inroads after that early breakthrough by Jofra Archer, so Ben Stokes has brought himself on to bowl. Having removed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second over of the innings, Archer bowled too full, particularly to KL Rahul, and India were 30 for 1 after nine overs.
Stokes hasn't started smoothly, pulling out of his first delivery when he got his bowling hand caught in his pocket on approach and then overstepping on his next attempt. England will be hoping he gets into the groove and makes things happen, as he so often does, very soon.
There's a hint as Stokes nails his length with the last ball of the over, gets good lift off the pitch, but Rahul moves his hands clear.
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12 bowled
12 bowled dismissals in this match by India, their highest in men's Tests and the most by any team in men's Tests since 1955
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Archer strikes early
Jofra Archer has a wicket in his first over, the second of India's run chase. Yashasvi Jaiswal pulls on a slightly short, wide delivery and sends a top edge flying high into the air. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and the slips are standing underneath ready, their gazes skywards, Smith calls for it and collects. Jaiswal falls for a seven-ball duck and India are 5 for 1 in pursuit of 193 to win.
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England collapse
4 wickets lost for 11 runs by England, whose last six fell for 38
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India need 193
Washington Sundar claims his fourth wicket to wrap up England's innings. Another bowled dismissal, the 12th of the match for India has England all out for 192. From just back of a length, Washington crashes through Shoaib Bashir's defence and rattles off stump, giving him 4 for 22. Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets each and England's top-scorer for the innings was Joe Root with 40. India need 193 runs to win.
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Bowled Bumrah again
Jasprit Bumrah is everywhere. After bowling Brydon Carse in a yorker-laden over then pausing briefly for some on-field treatment to his leg, Bumrah bowls Chris Woakes, who steps back to drive and has is leg-side bail clipped with another gem of a delivery. England are nine wickets down and 185 runs ahead.
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Ten bowled
10 wickets for India via bowled dismissals in this Test, the joint-most for them in a men's Test, alongside last year's match against England at Hyderabad.
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Bumrah rewarded!
Finally Jasprit Bumrah's hard work is rewarded. After keeping England in check at the start of the day while remaining wicketless, Bumrah produces a wonderful yorker as Brydon Carse stabs the bat down in vain, the ball pinging the base of leg stump.
That was the first ball of the 56th over and the crowd roar with every subsequent Bumrah delivery as he continues to threaten. India appeal to DRS for caught behind off Jofra Archer but but the fifth ball of the over - another yorker - passes beneath the bat without making contact.
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Three for Washington!
3 wickets for 18 runs in 8.3 overs... just part of the story for Washington Sundar. They've been big dismissals too, Joe Root, Jamie Smith and now Ben Stokes
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Washington keeps India on top
England 387 and 175 for 6 (Stokes 27*, Woakes 8*, Washington Sundar 2-13, Siraj 2-31) lead India 387 by 175 runs
Two wickets to Washington Sundar kept India on top at tea on the fourth day of the third Test against England at Lord’s.
Washington claimed the big wicket of Joe Root for 40, rattling leg stump with one that slid under the bat as Root attempted to sweep, breaking his fifth-wicket stand with Ben Stokes at 67 in the process.
Four overs later, Washington bowled Jamie Smith for just 8 with an excellent quicker ball that didn’t turn but skidded past the outside edge and onto off stump.
At that point England were 164 for 6 and they were subsequently becalmed as Stokes, unbeaten at the interval on 27, and Chris Woakes looked to avoid further damage.
Earlier, Mohammed Siraj had been gutted to have missed out on removing Root himself when he rapped the pad with one that angled in down the slope and, after India challenged, the batter survived on umpire’s call on impact.
Siraj had been pivotal in putting India in control on the fourth morning when he removed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in a tight opening spell.
Nitish Kumar Reddy removed Zak Crawley for the second time in the match, a loose drive outside off stump gathered by Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, and Akash Deep negated England’s counter-attack by flattening Harry Brook’s middle stump so that the home side were four down at lunch.
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Washington Sundar strikes again!
Washington Sundar produces an excellent delivery to ping Jamie Smith's off stump. No turn, which Smith was perhaps expecting, but a faster ball that skidded on and beat the outside edge. England are six wickets down, 164 runs ahead.
Washington Sundar had already removed Joe Root, three overs into his introduction to the attack, and Ben Stokes has plenty of work to do to hold this Enlgand innings together.
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Root gone!
Washington Sundar makes a crucial breakthrough for India, bowling Joe Root on the sweep with one that slid under the bat and crashed into leg stump about halfway up. Root is on his way for 40, his fifth-wicket partnership with Ben Stokes broken at 67 and with England's lead 154.
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Root's close call
Mohammed Siraj's pain is palpbable as Joe Root survives a close lbw appeal. Initially given not out stepping foward to one that angled in down the slope, India appeal, but ball-tracking says umpire's call on impact on leg stump. Siraj punches the air and screams in frustration with Root on 36 and his partnership with Ben Stokes building.
Meanwhile, Akash Deep returns to the field after a relatively short time off being monitored and is moving around ok as he patrols deep backward square leg at the moment.
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Akash Deep goes off
Akash Deep is off the field "being monitored", as BCCI media puts it. He was seen walking rather gingerly up the stairs in the Pavilion clutching at his hip area.
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Root right at home
4 Joe Root's place on the list for most Test runs in a batter's home country. He has 7,036 in England and leapfrogs Jacques Kallis to move behind Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene.
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Bumrah’s back
Jasprit Bumrah returns, conceding just one run from his first over after lunch – to Ben Stokes - and keeping Joe Root on his toes.
His third ball led to an lbw appeal but height was a problem as it struck Root above the knee roll. Two balls later, Bumrah got one to skid low and strike Root on the shin with height no issue this time but it looked to be going down the leg side.
Bumrah's second over of the session, bowling around the wicket to Stokes was a maiden and left the batter with plenty to think about.
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An eventful start
Well, the first session promised it, the second is delivering early. England have passed the 100-mark with Joe Root and Ben Stokes unscathed. With the first ball after the lunch interval, Akash Deep bowled from the Pavilion end, and overstepped as Root edged an attempted cover drive to Dhruv Jurel, who fumbled behind the stumps.
Mohammed Siraj then thought he had Root lbw in the next over but it wasn't given and India wisely decided against taking a review.
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England in trouble at lunch
England 387 and 98 for 4 (Root 17*, Stokes 2*, Siraj 2-11) lead India 387 by 98 runs
India seized control with four wickets on an enthralling fourth morning at Lord’s, nipping an England counter-attack led by Harry Brook in the bud along the way.
Mohammed Siraj took took two wickets from a miserly seven-over spell, starting with Ben Duckett, who pulled to Jasprit Bumrah at mid-on and faced an impassioned send-off from the bowler that maintained the tension of the previous evening.
Siraj struck again when he pinned Ollie Pope lbw, although it took an India review to confirm his dismissal.
Bumrah bowled beautifully without reward, exploiting uneven bounce and keeping Zak Crawley on edge after a face-off the previous evening between Crawley and Shubman Gill, who was incensed by England's time-wasting in what became the solitary over of the innings on day three.
Bumrah returned towards the end of the fourth morning and remained wicketless but England were in all sorts of bother.
Nitish Kumar Reddy had relieved him after his iniital spell midway through the session and removed Crawley for the second time in the match, a loose drive outside off stump gathered by Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully.
Brook livened up England’s hopes ramping Akash Deep for back-to-back fours before launching him down the ground for six. But in an excellent response, Akash Deep bowled Brook round his legs attempting to sweep a full, straight one and flattened middle stump.
It left England four wickets down at lunch before they could put 100 runs on the board and not-out batters Joe Root and Ben Stokes with some rebuilding to do after the break.
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Brook's middle stump splattered
Harry Brook had just launched a rousing counter-attack for England, helping himself to 4, 4, 6 with twin ramps and a lofted drive off Akash Deep's third over but, in a brilliant riposte, Akash Deep flattened Brooks' middle stump with the third ball of his next over. Attempting to sweep a full, straight delivery, the ball slid under the bat, round his legs and into middle stump about a third of the way up. Brook is gone for a 19-ball 23 and England are in trouble at 87 for 4.
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Bumrah's spellbinding spell
Here's more insight on that spell from Jasprit Bumrah today, by Nagraj Gollapudi
5-0-21-0.
If you were not watching, you’d think the bowler had wasted the new ball based on those numbers. Yet, if you did not watch that first spell from Bumrah on steadily warming Sunday morning, you missed a spectacular spell of fast bowling. It has become a cliché to hear and write and say every ball he delivers in all cricket is an event. But today that line would not be a lie as Bumrah utilised the uneven bounce that emanated from a specific area in the good-length band from where the balls either wickedly leaped onto the handle of the bat or thudded into the keeper’s gloves or just died and skidded.
Bumrah went wicketless in that first spell but Zak Crawley would admit it was the Indian talisman who had put him in complete disarray. Bumrah’s duel with Crawley had started last evening when tempers flared as Shubman Gill and his men crowded around the England batter. Crawley was aware of the ordeal he was going to confront first thing today.
Of the 11 false shots England batters played against Bumrah in his first spell Crawley owned nine. Unsure about what to do, Crawley went flashing his Gray Nicholls unconvincingly. Though Bumrah went wicketless, he had done enough to distress Crawley, who eventually paid a price for loose defence and a scattered mindset.
You’d expect Bumrah to exploit the variable bounce from the Nursery end before lunch, so be ready for some more oohs and aahs from the full house at Lord’s.
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Crawley gone!
No sooner had Joe Root brought up England's 50 with a single to deep cover and Nitish Kumar Reddy removed Zak Crawley - for the second time in this match. A loose drive outside off stump was pouched by Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully. It was Reddy's second over of the innings after he entered the attack to relieve Jasprit Bumrah following a five-over spell this morning and he struck with his 10th ball. England are 50 for 3.
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Siraj strikes again!
Mohammed Siraj has two for the morning, pinning Ollie Pope lbw. It took an India review to seal the deal, Pope originally adjudged not out off a wobble ball which pitched on fourth stump and moved in off a good length to strike the front pad. Ball-tracking has it hitting the top of middle stump and Pope is sent on his way back to the dressing room for 4. Siraj has 2 for 10 from six overs.
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Pope and second innings glory?
by Matt Roller
There are many curiosities in Ollie Pope's Test record but perhaps none more so than the disparity between his average in England's first innings of a Test match (46.70) and their second (20.02). Pope told me two years ago that he was aware of the gap and blamed it on the mental energy he expends across the course of a Test - but despite his 196 in Hyderabad 18 months ago, he has hardly managed to close the gap.
Pope said after his first-innings 106 at Headingley that he was determined to build on his strong start to the series but it has been a familiar story since: he has never scored more than one hundred in a Test series and since ending the second day in Leeds on exactly 100 not out, he has scored 82 runs for five dismissals heading into this innings. This feels like a vital innings for him -- and for England.
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Siraj on one
Just outstanding stuff from both ends. So much happening out there, and for all the drama Jasprit Bumrah is causing of a length from the Nursery End, my flowers go to Mohammed Siraj, into his 5th over from the Pavilion End.
For those unfamiliar with Kevin Durrant, he is one of the best basketball players of his generation, hall of fame in every sense, including his tweets. He got caught out a few years ago using a burner to respond to criticism, so now just does it off his regular, 21 million follower X-account. I wouldn't be surprised if Siraj had a burner, and even less so if he just decided to call people out on his own handle.
The man is fueled by hate-o-rade and this passage is so much better for it.
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Bumrah bowling rockets
The Nursery End has become a bit of a minefield. Japsrit Bumrah is continuously getting the ball to kick off a good length. He has hit both the not-out batters in the hand at least once each. In seven overs, India have drawn 14 false shots but have got just one wicket. All of a sudden, it has started to look like a pitch where you don't want to chase more than 180. However, it remains to be seen how it reacts to the older, softer ball. So I will reserve my judgement for now. England 27 for 1 in seven overs.
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Siraj gets Duckett
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That's the sixth over. Ben Duckett plays a cheeky ramp over the keeper's head in the sixth over. Siraj then sends square leg back. The short ball is expected. It arrives. Duckett is not holding back on the pull, but it skids through a little. He is a little late on it, and ends up kinda shanking it straight into the lap of mid-on. Siraj is fired up. Gets into the face of Duckett a little, and belts out a "come on". England 22 for 1.
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India lose a review
In the third over of the morning, Mohammed Siraj uses the wobble-seam ball to go past Zak Crawley's inside edge, but Umpire Paul Reiffel doesn't raise the finger. Siraj's contention seems that it is out if there is no bat. Shubman Gill takes the review. The ball has pitched close to off, which reduces his chances of getting it. replays confirm Reiffel is right. This is missing leg. England still 9 for 0.
Bumrah has the Nursery End, which has offered not just more bounce but also uneven bounce. The slope from this end goes from leg to off for a right-hand batter. Siraj has the Pavilion End. Think the slope there - off to leg - might have helped the ball slide down a little.
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Bumrah gets Crawley in the hand again
It might have been a bit of an exaggeration from Zak Crawley yesterday, but Jasprit Bumrah has got him in the top hand well and proper with the last ball of his first over this morning. It kicks up from a length, hits him high on the top glove and balloons up. Bumrah makes a desperate attempt to take the catch but it evades him by inches. England 11 for 0 after three overs.
Mohammed Siraj has taken the new ball at the other end after one innings of a switch between him and Akash Deep. It wasn't a bad choice, really, to open with Akash because he is a seam bowler and the new ball seams more. And Siraj is a swing and seam bowler. the Dukes swing more from overs 11 to 30 than they do in the first 10.
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A recap of yesterday
Through our pieces, that is.
Matt Roller reports on the fiery scenes in what proved to be the last over of the day.
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from what refreshingly honest press conference of KL Rahul, who got a second century in a series for the first time.
Vish Ehantharajah writes on watching what seems like the winding down of an excellent career of Chris Woakes.
I, Sid Monga, write on how India have been the superior team through majority of the series, and yet they find themselves avoiding trailing 2-1.
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Overcast skies, Jurel likely to keep
Welcome to an overcast and a much cooler fourth morning at Lord's. It was perhaps needed after tempers flared up during the dying moments of day three. As you expect with two competitive teams, England wanted to face as little bowling as possible, India wanted to get in as much as possible. Things were said, gestures were made, and the wider world took renewed notice of the series.
And it is one where the teams are hard to separate. The series is 1-1, the first-innings scores are tied, and now we have a one-innings shootout.
Dhruv Jurel is doing the keeping drills this morning, which means Rishabh Pant is not going to risk his already injured finger. Speaking of finger injuries, England continue to sweat on Shoaib Bashir's. The official word is that he is expected to bowl in the fourth innings, but whether he bats or not will be decided in due course. Basically England will be hoping Bashir the batter is not needed, and that they can declare before such a need arises.
A fascinating point in the series. This is Sid Monga welcoming you. Very soon Val Baynes will take over this Live Report after having worked on the T20I in Birmingham last night. She is currently grappling with Sunday-morning train delays.
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Stumps day three
India were in the middle of a careful, painstaking build. Then they got distracted by something shiny and spent the rest of the day paying for it. Cricket may be a team sport but the events leading up to lunch on the third day at Lord’s epitomise how much individual records matter – for better or worse.
KL Rahul offered a sheepish look after his clattering of a short and wide delivery proved insufficient to beat deep point. So now he was on 98 instead of 101 and facing the prospect of a nervous 40 minutes inside the change room. Rishabh Pant wanted to spare his team-mate that trouble and went for a risky single. Ben Stokes pounced.
That moment coloured the rest of play on the third day which ended with India drawing level with England's 387. There were 10 minutes left. England dragged their feet. Tempers began to flare. Shubman Gill had some choice words, and sarcastic claps as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett's delay tactics allowed for only one over until stumps.
Rahul did eventually get that century but got out immediately after that. Archer produced his fastest spell of Test cricket yet, which reaffirmed his readiness to play this format. India slipped from 248 for 3 to 254 for 5. England sensed an opportunity. Jadeja and Reddy had zero fun running between the wickets, but they did carry the team forward far enough that this Test match remains evenly poised.
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Scores tied
Lord's and ties.
It's starting to get ridiculous.
Washington Sundar with just the last man for company tries to take on Archer's bouncer but gets caught by a very very fine deep third fielder. Archer just puts his head in his hands, expressionless. Stokes taps his finger on his head, big smile on his face.
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Jadeja gone
With India still trailing, Chris Woakes snaffles Jadeja down the leg side. His dismissal of Gill yesterday was a bit anti-climactic. This is even more so. Woakes has been bowling about 125kph in this Test. Practically harmless. But he's clever. It was his introduction that saved England from spraying the second new ball around and now he's poked a hole straight into their tailenders.
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Jadeja leads India
Ravindra Jadeja's defensive technique - particularly the ability to discern between the balls he needs to play and those he doesn't - are an underrated quality. When he's in form, he's as good as a top-order batter. The other thing that makes him such a useful batter at No. 6 is he knows when to pick his moments. Like today when spin came on, he was always on the lookout for boundary opportunities. Launched a Bashir long hop for six and manufactured the same back-foot pull shot with a straightish-bat - so manybe a shovel over midwicket - even though Root didn't pitch it as short to get a boundary. This is how he keeps his score ticking and now India are within touching distance of England. Just 13 away.
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Squad goals
Matt Roller reports from Lord's
Gus Atkinson is playing club cricket for Spencer CC today as he ramps up his comeback from a hamstring injury with an eye on the fourth Test in Manchester. He took 0 for 36 from his eight overs against Sunbury - for whom Hugh Weibgen, who captained Australia to the Under-19 World Cup last year, hit a century - and has just been caught at deep cover for 32 off 30, batting at No. 3.
England also released a handful of unused squad members to their counties for T20 Blast appearances last night: Sam Cook took 2 for 25 in Essex's win against Sussex; Jamie Overton's only over for Surrey against Glamorgan cost him 15 runs; and Jacob Bethell made 6 off 4 for Warwickshire in their win against Worcestershire.
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Jadeja fifty
A third fifty of the series for Jadeja, and out comes the sword twirling celebration, punctuated at the end by him punching his chest and pointing to the dressing room, as if to say chill out, guys. I'm still here. India are now only 53 runs away from England's 387. This Test might turn out to be a second-innings shoot-out too.
1 First time in his Test career, Jadeja has hit three 50+ scores in a series.
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Stokes strikes
This pitch has only been friends with Archer. Nobody else has really been able to get pace and bounce off it. But all of a sudden, after tea, with this newish ball, Ben Stokes finds seam movement away and a bit of kick off the pitch to have Reddy caught behind. Actually he surprised him first, the batter thinking he had everything covered with a back foot defence until the ball got really really big on him. England's captain dragging them back into the fight once more
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India 316 for 5 at tea
The shockwaves of one mistake - virtually the only one India made on the third morning - reverberated through the rest of play as India slipped from a commanding position. Rishabh Pant was run-out looking to get KL Rahul on strike for his century before lunch. Rahul fell for exactly 100 after lunch. Jofra Archer produced a hair-raising spell of fast bowling. England were desperate to break through but it was not to be. India now trail them by 72 runs. Both teams could've made their situations better.
India lost both their set batters in the space of 11 balls. The two who replaced them at the crease looked like they were incompatible. Ravindra Jadeja tried to sneak a single in the middle of an lbw appeal and Nitish Kumar Reddy wasn't alert to it. He could've been run out on 0, twice. He saw the ball fly past his edge. He got hit on the helmet. But he wouldn't succumb. And neither would Jadeja.
England sensed an opportunity dragging India from 248 for 3 to 254 for 5. Stokes gambled with a four-over spell from Archer with the new ball just around the corner. Lord's lived every ball, most of them sent down at 90mph, causing the crowd to ooooh and aaah. Stokes gambled again, bringing Archer back with only half an hour between spells to maximise that new ball. But this time he was wayward. Jadeja and Reddy could leave 11 of the first 24 balls with the second new ball and bit by bit their nerves settled. In the end, they were able to put on a fifty partnership.
Rahul carried India's batting, and secured a new high for them. They've made eight hundreds on this tour, a record. Repeatedly, he talks about the discrepancy between effort and reward. When he does so, it is almost tempting to extrapolate that he'd learned that lesson the hardest way possible. Obsessing about his lack of success and doubling down on his prep work in desperate search for a change.
At some point though, he realised he needed to let go, which is funny because one time, in South Africa, he started speaking about how he letting go of the ball was where his joy was. Bit by bit, his focus turned from scoring runs to just being the best batter he can be. Well, in this series, he's made two hundreds in three Tests. Shoaib Bashir produced a beauty to get rid of him, an offbreak that drifted away at the last second to snag the outside edge. Bashir's participation in the game was curtailed after that with the offspinner picking up a finger injury when Jadeja hit the ball back at him.
Pant looked good as well, batting through an injury to his left hand, putting aside his discomfort to produce moments only he can. Reverse scoops. Fall away scoops. Sixes to the first ball of spin. He needed help from the physio to stay out there but for the most part he was good, until the last over before lunch when he thought he was helping his team-mate by sneaking a single to cover. Ben Stokes was aware of the situation, and as he ran in from cover, he had an easier through at the keeper's end, but chose to go the other way and sent Pant packing. The celebrations that followed were almost angry. A sign that England hadn't enjoyed being second best this morning, though not for a lack of effort.
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Jadeja and Reddy steady
For all the uncertainty of the running between the wickets and the plays and misses, Jadeja and Reddy have put on a fifty-partnership, slowly drawing the sting out of the England attack, which has been stripped of Shoaib Bashir who took a blow to the finger and left the field.
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England's discipline
11 India have been able to leave 11 of the first 24 balls from England with the second new ball
There has been movement on offer. Brydon Carse had Reddy playing and missing off successive deliveries but they haven't been able to draw enough shots.
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England's chance
Two wickets in 11 balls either side of the lunch break.
Jofra Archer spitting fire for four overs
Two run-out opportunities with Reddy on 0.
And now they have to face the new ball.
Jadeja and Reddy have clung on for 12.5 overs.
And brought the deficit down below 100.
But there's still work to do.
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100 KL Rahul's hundred is the 100th instance of a batter dismissed on 100 in a Test Match innings.
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Archer unleashed part II
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The crowd are clapping Archer on as he runs in. And they're going ooooh with every uncertain stroke the batter plays. Lord's is fully locked in. This is the thrill of watching a fast bowler. His speeds once more. (This is the fastest spell of his Test career)
150 kph
150 kph
149 kph
146 kph
148 kph
148 kph
150 kph
149 kph
146 kph
148 kph
148 kph
And to add to the theatre, Archer is now indulging in looooooong follow throughs. The over ends with him in hand-shaking distance to Reddy, except Reddy has his back turned, marking his guard, steadfastly refusing to engage. He's still on 0 after 20 balls.
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Archer unleashed
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England have asked Archer to go for broke. He's going nose with Reddy on strike and toes with Jadeja. These were his speeds in the 71st over.
150 kph
147 kph
147 kph
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149 kph
150 kph
147 kph
147 kph
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149 kph
150 kph
The over ends with another run-out chance. Reddy nowhere in the frame again, this time being sent back by Jadeja. Stokes sees all of this and adds to the pressure with a little chirping. Think back to his reaction after getting Pant run out. Think back to the team running straight to him. They've all been lifted a level.
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Drama
Lbw appeal. Run out chace. Archer cranking it up to 150 kph. This game's definitely changed.
Archer is convinced he has Jadeja, with the ball keeping low and rapping him on the pads as he plays around them. Unfortunately, the seam movement in was just too much so the umpire doesn't give it. Stokes is counseled not to go for the review.
That's drama enough, but amid England's appeal, Jadeja was looking to sneak a single and as much as he would have wanted to catch England off, he seems to have caught his own partner off. Nitish Reddy just wasn't ready and he wasn't even in the frame when Ollie Pope ran around to midwicket and threw the ball at the striker's end.
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Rahul gone
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Welp. Shoaib Bashir produces a peach. There is a lot of talk about how he doesn't have the tools to survive Test cricket. And then there are these moments. Moments where he tosses the ball and it traces a mesmerising arc, going up above the batter's eyeline and dropping down at the worst possible time. Here he gets the offbreak to drift. And it happens late. KL Rahul is committed to the original line and length - a half-volley just outside off stump - but when the ball lands, it's not a half-volley and its wider than he thinks and it snags the edge and goes through to Harry Brook at slip.
England have got rid of both of India's set batters and are into the allrounders and Jofra Archer is running at them generating 146 kph pace. This game's changed.
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Rahul century
Repeatedly, KL Rahul talks about the discrepancy between effort and reward. When he does so, it is almost tempting to extrapolate that he'd learned that lesson the hardest way possible. Obsessing about his lack of success and doubling down on his prep work in desperate search for a change.
At some point though, he realised he needed to let go, which is funny because one time, in South Africa, he started speaking about how he letting go of the ball was where his joy was. Bit by bit, his focus turned from scoring runs to just being the best batter he can be. Well, in this series, he's made two hundreds in three Tests and as he raised this one, he took time for himself, running practically all the way to the boundary as he completed a quick single and then looking up at the sky with closed eyes. Once again it's tempting to imagine him looking back at all the struggle and telling himself it's worth it.
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Reliving Pant vs Stokes
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
Two fine legs, a deep square leg nearly and a deep midwicket – that was the chain fence on the leg side in addition to two fielders inside the circle. With that six-fielder legside plan Stokes challenged Pant with a targeted spell of fast bowling comprising exclusively short-pitched deliveries from the second over of his morning spell. With Pant feeling the pain on the left index finger, it was no doubt a smart plan.
Pant grunted frequently in pain shaking his head in and hand even as he did not shy away from attacking the short ball majority of the times. As Stokes targeted his head, neck, armpits, ribs, Pant moved most times inside the line of the ball and flayed his bat, at times with just his right hand, often with both to attempt to clear the boundary on the leg side. A six, high over fine leg, off the final delivery of Stokes’ second over of the morning spell, would get Pant to his half century.
He would repeat the stroke again after the England captain banged in another short one from round the wicket two overs later, and was denied another maximum after Zak Crawley leapt with outstretched hands to parry the ball back inside the ground. In the previous over Stokes couldn’t spot the ball as a Pant pull against Carse flew towards him at deep mid-wicket. Stokes raised his hands to suggest he couldn’t’ spot the ball in the glaring sun. The full house at Lord’s emitted different emotions as Pant looked England in the eye.
Overall, Pant made 31 runs against 34 deliveries pitched short and short-of-length at a strike rate of over 91. Of those 34, England banged just one short delivery at Pant on Friday after he replaced Shubman Gill. So while Stokes’ wonder arm did for Pant, England possibly attacked Pant a bit too late.
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India 248 for 4 at lunch
KL Rahul's imminent century gave England a chance and they took it. Rishabh Pant was run-out in the last over before lunch as he tried to hand the strike over to his partner so that he could bring up the landmark. Apart from that mistake though, India were ruling the roost on the third day at Lord's.
A largely profitable session's play - 103 runs in 22.3 overs - ended on a sour note for the visitors and for Pant in particular because he was out there with an injured finger. There were moments where he was placed in discomfort, but there were also moments that were straight out of his top draw. He charged at Jofra Archer in the first over. He tried to break a sequence of 25 dots with a reverse scoop. He hit the first ball of spin in the session for six, the 88th of his Test career, which puts him only two shy of Virender Sehwag who holds the India record.
Pant will be peeved at how he fell for 74, his eighth fifty-plus score in England. It was needless, except for the fact that he thought he was helping his team-mate. Stokes understood the urge. He might also have factored Pant's injury into his calculations because the throw would've been a lot more straight forward to the batter's end from his position, having run in from cover to grab the ball. Instead he turned himself around and nailed the other set of stumps, sparking somewhat angry celebrations.
This happened towards the tail-end of Stokes bowling one of his fiery old spells, five overs where 26 balls were bouncers or back of a length with his pace up at 90mph as he tried to make things happen. When he did, the whole team gathered around him, galvanised. He himself knew how big of a wicket that was, the circumstances in which it came, because England were very much second best throughout the session though for no fault of trying. And perhaps that's why there was a point in the celebrations where Stokes felt the need to bring his cap up to his mouth, a trick used to make sure the cameras don't catch what you're saying.
Rahul was the picture of simplicity and grace. Since his comeback into the Test team in 2021, on a tour of England, he has made four centuries away from home, the joint-most by an India batter. Pant is the man he shares the podium and it was in the effort to go clear at No. 1 that India wasted a wicket and must now try and smother the momentum England might have gained thanks to their inspirational captain.
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Pant run-out
Ben Stokes yells into his cap so that what he says isn't caught on camera. That's a sign of what the wicket means and also how the session had gone. England got nothing. India gave them nothing. And then KL Rahul's imminent century created an opportunity. Pant tried to get him back on strike before lunch so that he can get to the landmark. Went for the drop and run into cover. Stokes was there. Normally he would've thrown at the batter's end. But he spun around and aimed at Pant. And got a direct hit. Stokes was bowling himself into the ground, a five-over unbroken spell after drinks where 26 of the 30 deliveries were pitched either short or short of a length and his pace rising up to 90mph. Unresponsive conditions. Opposition on top. The slightest chance. And a big of magic. England's captain takes them to lunch on a little bit of a high.
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Up, up and away
88 sixes for Rishabh Pant in Test cricket, equalling Rohit Sharma and two shy of Virender Sehwag who holds the Indian record.
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The spread
*stomach rumbles*
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Stokes full tilt
Ben Stokes, who came into the ground yesterday under a little bit of a cloud after experiencing some discomfort in his groin, is really pushing himself, going around the wicket to both the left-handed Rishabh Pant and the right-handed KL Rahul as well to try and bounce them out. Unresponsive pitch. Soft cricket ball. Opposition on top. These were the times he lived for, when he would bowl himself into the ground. A strike from their captain would really lift England here. For a start, he's causing Pant to really feel that finger injury
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Pant fifty
Most 50+ scores by a wicketkeeper in a country (Away Tests)
Rishabh Pant (IND) in England - 8*
MS Dhoni (IND) in England - 8
John Waite (SA) in England - 7
MS Dhoni (IND) in England - 8
John Waite (SA) in England - 7
With an injured finger, which needed tending minutes before the landmark because England had shifted to a short-ball barrage, Pant pulls a bouncer into the stands at deep backward square leg.
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Top order triumph
6 India have got six partnerships of 100 or more from their first five wickets in this series. Rahul and Pant the most recent pair to get there. England have three
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Woakes at a cross roads
Matt Roller reports from Lord's
Are we watching the final stages of Chris Woakes’ England career? He bowled an excellent new-ball day in the second Test at Edgbaston and his plan to Shubman Gill paid off last night, but he is bowling high 70s mph with the keeper stood up, and at 36, he isn’t likely to rediscover his pace and snap anytime soon.
With four wickets at 89.5 in this series and a notoriously poor record overseas, it is hard to see Woakes playing much of a role for England in Australia this winter. His central contract is up at the end of September, and he has just signed a deal with MI Emirates for the ILT20, which clashes directly with the Ashes.
There’s no doubt that the Ashes will take precedence if he is picked, but can England really head Down Under with him leading their attack?
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Ball change
England have a change of ball immediately after the drinks break. The previous one wasn't doing anything for them, and an alarming 31 runs had come off 19 balls in the lead-up to the drinks break. They'll hope for the replacement to be more responsive.
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Rishabh Pant things the sequel
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
It wouldn’t be wrong if Pant decides to add a TM to his fall-over scoop. It is a stroke that generates astonishment and chuckles in equal measure. The bowler and the bowling captain meanwhile are left in disarray. But how does Pant play that shot? And how does he not lose the balance? At Beckenham, on India’s first proper day of training on landing in England earlier in June, I sneaked the query to man himself during an informal chat. Pant said that bowlers in the IPL had started to bowl more and more outside his off stump and to restrict his scoring areas. He needed to find ways and a safe one he figured was to scoop it as soon as he knew the line was safe. As for the balance, Pant said, he is always watching the ball till the end until he connects and the tumble after doesn’t really his body going with the momentum.
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Runs flowing
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We told you it was a batting day. Thirty-one runs in 19 balls between the 51st and 54th overs.
England tried to change the ball in the third over of play because they know its not doing anything. The field is reflective of that with Stokes shifting his focus from catchers behind the wicket to in front of it looking for a mistake, a batter getting on the drive a little too soon as the ball comes on a little too slow. India aren't making those mistakes.
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Rishabh Pant things
He's 41 off 66.
There was a charge in the first over against Jofra Archer for four over cover
There was a reverse scoop attempted to try and break a sequence of 25 dots
There was a charge immediately after that sequence was broken, and England made the mistake of pushing their wicketkeeper back to Chris Woakes.
After seeing that, Smith came up to the stumps for Woakes and Pant responded with a falling scoop. Didn't connect.
He's always all action. Partnership with KL Rahul is 73 now, those runs coming at 3.6 an over.
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England keeping it tight
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Thirty one legal balls without a run off the bat between a single in the 46th over and another single in the 51st. A little bit of that pressure though is relieved as Rahul plays a charming back cut to the boundary.
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Lord's is the p(a)lace to be
Request for ball change - 1
Boundaries - 2
Mis-hits - at least 1 (Rahul once again worried by Archer's short ball)
Sightings of former Crystal Palace FC coach Roy Hodgson - 2
We'll return to this counter at the end of play.
Boundaries - 2
Mis-hits - at least 1 (Rahul once again worried by Archer's short ball)
Sightings of former Crystal Palace FC coach Roy Hodgson - 2
We'll return to this counter at the end of play.
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Pant in pain
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Rishabh Pant is not 100%. But apparently he doesn't need to be to wreak havoc. He remains worried about his left hand, where he sustained an injury while wicketkeeping and on more than one occasion, including while coming down the track against Jofra Archer and hitting a boundary, he took it off the bat to protect it. It's a batting day at Lord's. India will want all the runs they can get. So Pant is gritting his teeth and managing his pain. England will have taken note of that, of course and will want to make sure he doesn't get a lot of leaves. The jarring of ball hitting bat will be uncomfortable.
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Bumrah... the comic?
It's a good thing he's a great fast bowler coz that joke wasn't really funny!
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Pujara with the bell
The five-minute bell will be rung by Cheteshwar Pujara. The (still active) India batter sits eighth on the all-time men’s Test run scoring list for India.
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Welcome to day three
The weekend started way early at Lord's with Friday throwing up so many fun things. A century for Joe Root. A five-for for Jasprit Bumrah. A triumphant return to Test cricket for Jofra Archer. In between all of those, a Test match decided to move over and sit on a knife's edge. Which means there's bound to be a tipping point. Soon. So will England hold onto their lead - they're still 242 ahead - or will India eat into those runs? Stay tuned to find out.
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Stumps, day two
India 145 for 3 (Rahul 53*, Pant 19*) trail England (Root 104, Carse 56, Smith 51, Bumrah 5-74) by 242 runs
Jasprit Bumrah was saved, or saved himself, for Lord's. The temptation of the most famous honour's board in the world might have had something to do with it, and if so, the plan worked. Bumrah was able to claim a five-for that helped bowl England out for 387 but he was far from the only fast bowler that set the pulse racing.
Jofra Archer would have spent three years thinking about this moment, being told of the light at the end of the tunnel as he willed himself through the rehab his body needed to shoulder the burden that comes with Test cricket. Three balls into his first over back, the light wasn't hypothetical anymore. His day in the sun had finally come and he was bathed in its glow as he celebrated a wicket. Yashasvi Jaiswal was sent back, wondering what he could have done against an 89mph rocket. Karun Nair was greeted by a 93mph missile.
Bumrah was carving out legacy. Archer was clearing away the cobwebs. Lord's was spoiled rotten (even if the pace of play allowed only 75 of the scheduled 90 overs). KL Rahul went to stumps unbeaten on 53 and holds in his hands much of India's hopes of getting close to England's 387.
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Rahul fifty
Rahul brings up his fifty, with a control percentage of 90. It's been a near flawless innings. Patient. Calculated. Determined. Classy.
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Gill falls
This is beautiful from England. They realise that the normal stuff can't work against Shubman Gill. So they couldn't afford to keep trying too much of it. There's only a small period of time that a batter remains new and you need to capitalise on that. So Ben Stokes had Jofra Archer attack him with the short ball and five men on the leg side.
Gill attempted to find a loophole by backing away and trying to open up the off side. Didn't work. He looked for the pull and it produced a mis-hit. At the other end, Chris Woakes was bowling with the keeper up and catchers all over the place in front of the wicket - short cover, short midwicket, a mid-on that was very close too. His plan was to get the Indian captain lbw. But for once, he changed it up, shifted his line outside off and got the ball to straighten. Gill got dragged across and ended up nicking off.
England were asking different questions. Funky questions. And perhaps the best answer to them is patience. Not get sucked in. But Gill was. He was two runs short of taking the record for the most runs by an India batter in a Test series in England.
In walks Rishabh Pant. His left hand is injured.
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Rahul's discipline
A representation of how careful Rahul has been around his off stump and how alert he's been when England shift their lines into middle and leg.
The two best shots he's played in his innings haven't been attacking ones. Archer produced a 142 kph bouncer and surprised Rahul, who hasn't really happened in this innings. Yet he was able to keep his focus, which was in playing the ball late and with soft hands, and equally keep his eyes on the ball until the last moment even though he was off balance. Then Stokes tested him with the fuller length, going wide of the crease to maximise the away movement that he gets. Rahul was aware of what the bowler was trying to do and he was very careful to present a straight bat instead of being sucked in by the angle and offering a closed one.
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Gill vs Archer
146 Shubman Gill's average in this series is 146. His average against Archer is 9. And he was Archer's most recent Test wicket before Jaiswal - caught square leg in the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad in early 2021. Which trend will prevail?
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Root record!
Incredible reflexes. It's hard to say if they've been born out of practice or have always been with him. What can be said is Joe Root had positioned himself a little wide at first slip. Maybe that suggests he backs himself if he needs to move to his left for a catching chance. The edge from Nair required him not just to move to his left but also kind of collapse into the floor because it was dying. On another day, it might have hit the grass before the fingers cupped it. On this day, the day that started with Root scoring a hundred, he was quick enough to get under the ball and come up with not just the catch but a world record.
Poor Karun Nair. He'd got through the short ball barrage. He was playing some crisp shots. He was looking at a half-century and maybe even a feeling of security. Instead he walks back to the pavilion and might have to wrestle with a little bit of imposter syndrome.
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Nair survives
England continue to target his body with short balls and both Ben Stokes and Paul Reiffel believe he's nicked one down the leg side in the first over after tea. The finger goes up but DRS comes to the India batter's rescue, Ultra Edge showing there was no bat involved. Nair is on his second, and possibly last chance to make an impact in Test cricket, and he does look good out there, playing late, committing to the half-volleys when they come and making sure not to follow the jaffas when they go past the edge. It's not been the easiest or the smoothest innings, but there have been patches where he's impressed.
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Pant update (not official)
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
Will Pant bat or not? That question lingered across the morning session as soon as Dhruv Jurel walked ut with keeping pads on. The good news for India is Pant is potentially good to bat based on the mini hit he had at the training nets behind the Nursery end. The session lasted about 25 minutes during which Pant faced throwdowns while being observed by India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and the team physio Kamlesh Jain.
The main purpose was to test if Pant could bat with the injury he picked on Monday to his left index finger while stopping a leg-side delivery from Jasprit Bumrah. Painkillers and icing the finger since yesterday afternoon allowed Pant to bat with some freedom as he defended and played strokes on the front foot confidently. He also did not flinch when playing the odd short delivery.
However, Kotak and Jain cautioned him to not overuse the left hand where possible like lifting the bat. It could not be ascertained if Pant’s finger was taped as he kept the gloves on throughout, but on evidence of the batting drill, India will be optimistic about him batting.
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India 44 for 1 at tea
Jasprit Bumrah was saved, or saved himself, for Lord's. The temptation of the most famous honour's board in the world might have had something to do with it, and if so, the plan worked. Bumrah was able to claim a five-for that helped bowl England out for 387 but he was far from the only fast bowler that set the pulse racing.
Jofra Archer would have spent three years thinking about this moment, being told of the light at the end of the tunnel as he willed himself through the rehab his body needed to shoulder the burden that comes with red-ball cricket. Three balls into his first over back, the light wasn't hypothetical anymore. His day in the sun had finally come and he was bathed in its glow as he celebrated a wicket. Yashasvi Jaiswal was sent back, wondering what he could have done against an 89mph rocket. Karun Nair was greeted by a 93mph missile.
Bumrah was carving out legacy. Archer was clearing away the cobwebs. Lord's was spoiled rotten.
They stood up as one to salute Joe Root when he got the chance the vent the nerves of spending the night on 99, the first ball offering him width that he took on happily. An outside edge squirted away to the deep third boundary to signal the Englishman's 37th Test century - which puts him in the top five in all of Test cricket. He went past Rahul Dravid and Steven Smith.
Bumrah decided he wasn't willing to share the stage anymore. So he sent back both the England captain Ben Stokes and their century maker as well, Root falling to the India seamer for the 11th time. There was another small victory for the visitors in this period of play when Gill secured his first successful review on tour to get rid of Chris Woakes. He rattled Archer's stumps as well to collect his 13th five-wicket haul away from home, a new national record, one more than the great Kapil Dev.
India continued to challenge the umpires, their irritation sparked by a second new ball that needed to be changed - a mere 10.3 overs into its use - and the replacement looking much the worse for wear. Shubman Gill spent the entire morning drinks break with Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula voicing his dissatisfaction, which had to have played a role in the officials eventually switching out even the replacement ball, after eight overs.
Away in the background, Jamie Smith, who was dropped by KL Rahul on 5, just kept his head down and did his thing. Once more, he led an England lower-order recovery mission, his skillset perfectly suited to the task. A 52-ball half-century was the result of a man concentrating on the job at hand while the opposition was too busy fretting about what could have been. India tried to forget about Smith and blow away the other end, but that didn't work either. Brydon Carse was batting well enough to hit Akash Deep on the up through the covers and getting down on bent knee to slash Bumrah past point. He completed an entertaining maiden half-century in Tests as England's last three wickets added 116 runs.
India's reply began brightly, Yashasvi Jaiswal collecting three fours in the first over, but he couldn't last the next one. KL Rahul, armed with impeccable judgement around the off stump, and Karun Nair, whose determination to make his second chance count was matched by England's ruthlessness, to prevent it from happening epitomised by a short-ball barrage, took India to tea at 44 for 1.
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Rahul's calming presence
KL Rahul has looked immaculate. The discipline and the judgement he's shown around the off stump sits comfortably with the alertness he has to balls that are straighter, presenting scoring opportunities. Just one of those things wouldn't secure him the comfort he is now feeling at the crease. He has been in control of 95% of the balls he's faced so far. He's made 10 off 19.
Karun Nair, at the other end, is being worked over. Particularly by the short ball, which at Jofra Archer's pace is no small thing. England had laid a trap, with leg gully and short leg waiting and it almost worked with the No. 3 being caught off guard by a rising delivery, offering half a shot that took the glove and went to the right of Ben Stokes behind square. Nair had fought his way back up to the Indian Test team but will need a big score to stay in it.
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Archer strikes, Lord's roars
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Three frustrating years of the body breaking down. Thousands of hours of rehab. Even more spent wondering if he would be as good as he was and then reminding himself that it didn't matter. He just had to get well and get out on the field. Injuries are part of the contract fast bowlers sign with the devil to be the coolest kids in cricket. Jofra Archer's been down for long enough. Now he's here. And he's flying. Wicket with his third ball back. It's like he's never been away.
Lord's was vibing with him even before he took down Yashasvi Jaiswal. None of the quiet hum business. This was maybe a step short of headbanging. First ball hit the deck and seamed away. Second ball was pitched up and generated swing. Third ball was catharsis. Archer took the edge. Brook took the catch. And all of England watched with pride as one of the game's best crowd pullers raced away in celebration. When Archer had calmed down and it was time to greet the new batter, he unleashed hell at 93 mph.
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Jazball
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Shubman Gill was goading England, saying "boring cricket" was back. Mohammed Siraj was asking about where Bazball went. Now, in India's first over, Yashasvi Jaiswal is taking matters even further.
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Lets go
32 wickets in eight Tests at Lord's for Chris Woakes, including three five-fors. So he gets the new ball from the Nursery end
Rishabh Pant has been batting in the nets this morning after sustaining a finger injury which prevented him from keeping wicket. He looked fairly okay, no official word though about whether he's fit enough to bat in the Test match.
Jofra Archer might be taking the new ball from the other end, his much-awaited, carefully planned Test is almost upon us.
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England 387 all out
Carse walks across his stumps. Siraj targets them. Bowled. No celebration though. This is a good total for England. It is also the kind of total - and the kind of ground - that will rouse a few of the India batters to produce their best. Certaintly seemed so for Bumrah who, it looks like, had earmarked this Lord's Test as one of the three that he would play in this series potentially because of the chance to go up on the honour's board. Sachin's not there and he tried so hard. He is. Having played just his second Test at this ground. With 13 five-fors away from home, he goes past Kapil Dev to take the Indian record.
Joe Root brought up his 37th Test hundred. Jame Smith proved once more that he has a long career ahead. Brydon Carse was the surprise no one saw coming. England's last three wickets racked up 116 runs. All of it has meant this engaging series continues to have everyone hooked.
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Carse fifty
Picked the slower ball out the back of the hand, held his shape long enough and then unleashed a great hit down the ground. Earlier in the innings, with a regular batter at the other end, he made sure to focus on traditional cricket shots and played several that would've caught India unawares. Now with only one wicket standing, and having to farm the strike, he's wielding the long handle. England are tantalisingly close to 400.
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Bumrah has five at Lord's
12 five-fors for Bumrah in the World Test Championship era, the most by any bowler
This was the contest within this contest. Bumrah vs Archer. And when they came face-to-face on the field, it didn't disappoint. Bumrah seems to be getting the ball to seam in the direction of the shine (so maybe some reverse?) and Archer just stands there, unable to reconcile with how his defence was so soundly breached. He doesn't dare look around to see proof of what he knows has already happened.
Bumrah rested at Edgbaston to be ready for Lord's and he has a five-for. Celebrates it with a raised left-hand with the index finger pointing out. Looked more like relief than anything else. It was up to his team-mates to make him enjoy the limelight a little more, Mohammed Siraj becoming puppeteer as he shoved the ball in Bumrah's hand and made him raise it aloft.
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Siraj strikes, Smith gone
Smith is gone. He had his luck early in the innings. He pulled England out of the fire. At no point did it seem like he was doing something as troublesome. Really all through his half-century, it looked like he was playing for the team on top. It's probably why he has been able to marshall the lower order so well in this series. He just bats.
The same can be said of Siraj. He never drops intensity. Indeed, he sometimes gets carried away, as he did this morning when in the middle of his run up, he looked up to see Joe Root not waiting for the ball but crouching over the pitch to pick up a little ladybug. There were a few words exchanged. Siraj also had to deal with KL Rahul dropping Smith off his bowling when he only had five runs on the board. Through it all, he just bowled. That's what Siraj does. Whether he's picking up six wickets in a spell like he did at the Asia Cup final or if he's going through a whole Australia tour with luck forsaking him, he just bowls, believing that if he can keep hitting the right areas over and over, he will get his rewards. He celebrated Smith's wicket by signalling 2-0 to the dressing room. Wonder what that means.
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Smith leads England once again
Jasprit Bumrah was saved, or saved himself, for Lord's. The temptation of the most famous honour's board in the world might have had something to do with it and he very nearly wrote himself on it as India started the second day in full flow. India took three wickets in the first five overs - all three the work of their talismanic fast bowler - but a familiar face stalled their progress. Jamie Smith went past 400 runs in the series and walked off at the lunch break with England no longer feeling that queasiness in the stomach that comes with giving up a strong position. They went from 260 for 4 to 271 for 7 but will sit down and dig into the ground's celebrated catering at 353 for 7.
Lord's stood up as one to salute Joe Root when he got the chance the vent the nerves of spending the night on 99, the first ball offering him width that he took on happily. An outside edge squirted away to the deep third boundary to signal the Englishman's 37th Test century - which puts him in the top five in all of Test cricket. He went past Rahul Dravid and Steven Smith.
Bumrah decided he wasn't willing to share the stage anymore. So he sent back both the England captain Ben Stokes and their century maker as well, Root falling to the Indian fast bowler for the 11th time. There was another small victory for the visitors in this period of play when Gill secured his first successful review on tour to get rid of Chris Woakes.
India continued to challenge the umpires, their irritation sparked by a decision to change the second new ball - a mere 10.3 overs into its use - which was working quite well for them. Shubman Gill spent the entire morning drinks break with Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula seemingly dissatisfied with the replacement ball. They didn't have to deal with it for long though. Eight overs in, the replacement ball was being replaced.
Away in the background, Smith, who was dropped by KL Rahul on 5, just kept his head down and did his thing. Once more, he led an England lower-order recovery mission, his skillset perfectly suited to the task. A 52-ball half-century was the result of a man concentrating on the job at hand while the opposition was too busy fretting about what could have been. India tried to forget about Smith and blow away the other end, but that didn't work either. Brydon Carse was batting well enough to hit Akash Deep on the up through the covers and getting down on bent knee to slash Bumrah past point. England's eighth wicket pair had come together in the middle of a crisis. With all the focus on Bumrah and India and the quality of the Dukes balls, they've quietly shifted the balance of the Test match.
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Smith 400, England 350
Most runs by an England WK in a Test Series
Alec Stewart v SA, 1998 - 465
Les Ames v WI 1930 - 417
Jamie Smith v IND 2025 - 400*
Jonny Bairstow v SL 2016 - 387
Les Ames v WI 1930 - 417
Jamie Smith v IND 2025 - 400*
Jonny Bairstow v SL 2016 - 387
England's best player of the series has another half-century. In addition to how quickly he scores, the fact that he comes down the order is definitely to his advantage. India thought they could blow the other end away and gave free singles to him. That didn't work. They lost focus and Smith totally capitalised. England go past 350 as well.
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Lower order runs again
Jamie Smith is once again leading an England lower-order fightback. He wasn't fussed when India were getting sidetracked by the shape of the ball. He wasn't fussed by the chance that he gave early on in the innings. He wasn't fussed by the good balls and punished them as generously as he did the bad ones. Now he has confidence in his partner Brydon Carse as well, so he's begun to take the single that India are offering him with spread out fields and the result of all of that is a 50-run partnership for the eighth wicket at a strong clip (just 72 balls).
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Ball change
The second new ball lasted 63 deliveries before the umps decided it was out of shape.
The replacement ball, at India's repeated insistence, now gets the boot, after just 48 deliveries.
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Root's pre-match prep work
Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord's
The timing of this post might raise eyebrows, but bear with me. Root, as Mark Wood revealed on TMS on Thursday, doesn’t sleep well during a Test match. We don’t know whether he was restless in bed or rested well but Root was all focus this morning during a nearly 40-minute net session at the adjacent Nursery ground. I have been watching Root in the nets since Wednesday when he had a more-than-an-hour-long batting drill facing throwdowns from former England opener and current batting coach Marcus Trescothick. Both sessions, Root operated in tunnel-vision mode oblivious to the surroundings, including this morning when several fans were standing just a few yards behind the nets.
When you stand that close, as I was, you notice so many things. Root was a good yard outside the popping crease to begin with. But in his trigger movement he would take his right foot back onto the crease before reacting to the line of the delivery. If it was pitched on length, he would guide the ball gently anywhere in front of square or play the favorite steer down to third. To a fuller length delivery, the set-up would be similar but he would lunge forward and meet it right under the eye. Never did he show any sudden urge to charge out as it seemed he was more focussed on his defensive game, which is his strongest suit and makes him among the greatest batters in Test cricket. In between all this, he was beaten too, more than once, but Root moved on quickly. Tap, tap, tap, he would knock the bat the customary three times on the turf, right foot back into the crease and react to the next ball.
So you wonder what did it all achieve in the end considering he fell once again to his bete noire Jasprit Bumrah, who forced the England great to play on with fast seaming-in delivery? That is too simplistic a way of looking at the events of this morning. For a top athlete like Root, or even Harry Brook, who was batting in adjacent nets, despite being Bumrah-ed on the first day, it’s about the feel, of constantly working on and improving and improvising. Failures only resolve them to become better.
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Smith the danger
A brief period of calm - which India cannot countenance, and which has coincided with the umpires deciding to change the new ball after just 10.3 overs. A new ball that had yielded rich bounty, which is perhaps why Shubman Gill tried taking up the issue with Paul Reiffell and Sharduddoula. He spent the entire morning drinks break with them, looking quite peeved about the fact the instrument with which they were wreaking havoc has been taken away from them.
Those frustrations might well be amplified by Smith's presence at the crease. It is quite clear that the match situation doesn't affect the way he plays. He made 184 and the first of those runs was a boundary smacked straight past a bowler who was on a hat-trick. That clarity of mind coupled with the purity of his strokeplay - seriously he times the ball so well - signals real danger. An hour of Smith - and his naturally quick scoring charm - can really change the complexion of the game.
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The Rahul drop
Mo Siraj could've been on the wicket-takers list this morning as well and Jamie Smith could've already been back in the hut had KL Rahul been able to take a complicated catch at second slip. Greg Chappell wrote a column about slip catching recently after India dropped eight (or so) in Leeds. Everything he wrote played out with this drop.
The toughest of all are those in the grey zone around the midriff, where indecision between fingers-up and fingers-down can undo even the best.
For catches coming straight at the body, some excellent catchers, like Ricky Ponting, preferred to lower the body and take the ball fingers up, while Mark Waugh, one of the best ever, preferred to swivel slightly off-centre. If you let the ball hit you with the body square-on, there's a risk of getting cramped - the hands end up too close to the torso, the arms can't give, and the ball jolts out
The Smith catch came at just above the midriff. Rahul couldn't move from square on to side on quickly enough.
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Five overs of hell
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Bumrah with three of those overs, taking three wickets for nine runs. The most recent one was also the first successful review from India in this series. Chris Woakes was done on the outside edge - the keeper didn't appeal. The slips did. Jadeja from cover point insisted "aawaz aaya" [sound came]. Bumrah said if there was a noise, it could only be bat. Gill took that and went for the review and wouldn't you know it, there was bat.
So to recap - the pitch is quicker, Bumrah is moving the new ball both ways, and England are in a lot of trouble. Jamie Smith remains out there though and when he got off the mark today, he equalled Quinton de Kock as the quickest wicketkeeper (by innings - 21) to the mark of 1000 Test runs. Given the help that's been available in this match, those gargantuan first-innings totals from the previous games might not be necessary for a bowling attack. 300-350 could do.
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Bumrah KOs Root!
11 times that Bumrah has got Root in Test cricket, joint-most along with Cummins
India are surging this morning. It appears the pitch has quickened up a little bit. So now the movement the bowlers are getting with the new ball happens without the extra time that the batter got to adjust last night. So when Bumrah pitches one up on that uncertain length, where it can't be driven on the front foot, or punched off the back foot, Root is stuck playing a what do I do kind of push - made all the more obvious by his feet not moving too much and the resulting gap between bat and pad is exploited by the ball. Inside edge onto the stumps
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Bumrah KOs Stokes
He might have received a clean bill of health but even then he cannot keep out a pearler from Jasprit Bumrah. And because it is these two men, there is no shortage of drama.
It all starts with a rasping cut shot, the kind of shot you replay in your head and you feel happening in slow motion, every part of your body moving perfectly and unison until bat connects with ball with what looks like pure ferocity but really its precision. You're a bad ball. You deserve this. So take it and go.
Bumrah replies by going into his genius reserve. He has a new ball in his hands. He had magic in his wrists. He combines both of them to wreak havoc. The off stump is off to the races. And these two have history. When England toured India last year, Bumrah keept knocking Stokes' stumps over, in every way. At one point, Stokes heard the KO and just dropped his bat in defeat.
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R(1)oot!
If he comes out and says he had a great night, slept like a baby, didn't think about the hundred at all (he might, he used to be cheeky in a previoius lifetime, before the England captaincy ruined him. God help you if you get hit in the family jewels when he's around), do not believe him. From how far he reached away from his body to get bat on the very first ball of play, it is fairly clear that he wanted to get to the landmark - or at least get rid of it so he can concentrate on turning this total into a really big one.
All of Lord's stood up to applaud one of the very best, and perhaps a player we might only truly appreciate when he's all done, which might be a while yet because the appetite hasn't dimmed at all. Celebrated the hundred with just as much gusto as ever.
3 Only three men have more Test hundreds at a single venue than Root's 8 at Lord's - Jayawardene with 11 at the SSC in Colombo, Bradman with 9 at the MCG and Kallis at Newlands in Cape Town
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Health check
Ben Stokes, who had a tight groin yesterday, is good enough to continue as well. We hear that he was also bowling at full tilt, alongside Mark Wood, so that's a significant worry off England's plate. I'm fine too (besides the clicking knees and an overactive imagination)
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Red for Ruth day
Matt Roller reports from London:
It’s Red for Ruth Day at Lord’s, with the ground turning red in support for the Ruth Strauss Foundation. Ruth, the late wife of England captain Andrew Strauss, died in 2018 of an incurable lung cancer that affects non-smokers, and the foundation was set up in her honour to support families facing the death of a parent from cancer.
The first annual Red for Ruth Day was held in 2019, and the foundation has raised over £4 million since, enabling it to support over 3,500 people and to train more than 1,000 cancer care professionals. But its goals are lofty: “In terms of our ambitions, we've only really just scratched the surface,” Andrew Strauss said.
“The first year was obviously a deeply emotional time for me and my boys,” Strauss said. “It’s a very proud time for me to see how far the foundation has come, and it makes me feel very warm and fuzzy inside to know that we are helping so many people and, in some way, holding their hands through an incredibly tough time in their lives. Cricket is my home, and hopefully will always be my home.
“The two things coming together [creates] a great day, but that is very much the focal point and the centrepiece. What makes me even more proud, actually, is when you hear little stories of schools and clubs that are doing their own version. They don’t know me personally, they didn’t know Ruth, but they feel like they’re connected to the cause.”
For more information, and to donate to the Ruth Strauss Foundation, click here
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Welcome!
The people at the team hotel have had the chance to do the funniest thing. When Joe Root ordered his morning cuppa, they should've sent it up with the sugars arranged in the shape of 99. When he took the lift down to the bus to take him to the ground, the other people in it should've burst into song. Ideally about 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Whaaaat? These guys are supposed to be super athletes, not just physically fit but also mentally tuned to resist the arbitrary values that big cricket has ascribed to random numbers!
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Root stranded on 99
England 251 for 4 (Root 99*, Reddy 2-46) vs India
Shubman Gill declared the return of “boring Test cricket” but England did not care. They scored uncharacteristically slowly – at just 3.02 runs per over – and ground their way into the ascendancy on their slowest-scoring full day of the Bazball era, as Joe Root reached the close a run short of his 37th Test century and his eighth at Lord’s.
“Baz-Baz-Bazball! Come on, I want to see it,” Mohammed Siraj was heard telling Root over the stump microphones, as England put their attacking shots away during a wicketless second session. “No more entertaining cricket, lads,” Gill told his team-mates, after Pope left the ball alone outside his off stump. “Welcome back to the boring Test cricket.”
Boring suited England just fine. The crowd at Lord’s were probably anticipating a very different day when they cheered Ben Stokes’ decision to bat first after winning his third consecutive toss, but a sluggish surface and a disciplined bowling effort from India’s seamers – including the returning Jasprit Bumrah – led England to scale back their usual aggressive intent.
But India will be heartened by the fact that after a long day in the field, they have kept England in check. The bowling heroes of their 336-run win at Edgbaston, Siraj and Akash Deep, both went wicketless, but timely scalps for Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and two in an over from Nitish Kumar Reddy ensured that England never got away from them.
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On the fly
We have a pause in play due to a swarm of insects flying about the pitch. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Flying ants? Birds apparently - ladybirds! They can be seen hovering round the England balcony, though the players there seem unruffled. Ben Stokes doesn't seem too happy about having to contend with them crossing his eyeline. But the umpires have indicated it's time to get on with things and they play on as the worst of the threat from these little critters subsides.
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Second new ball time
Sixteen minutes left on the opening day, and India can have a quick burst with the second new ball tonight if they want to. The over-rate has been slow today, with Rishabh Pant and Ben Stokes' injuries not helping, but there should be time for at least four more overs with a hard new ball.
Akash Deep will come back on from the Pavilion End, with Jasprit Bumrah ready for a burst from the Nursery End after a quick comfort break off the field. India delayed taking it for one ball, but have now done so after 80.1 overs.
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Turn and bounce
There has been something in the surface for the spinners today, and Ravindra Jadeja gets one to bounce significantly and turn past Joe Root's outside edge. There's a prolonged appeal for caught-behind, but Shubman Gill eventually decides against the review. It's another fantastic take from Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps, who Root knows well from their time at Rajasthan Royals together.
This is already shaping up as a big Test for Shoaib Bashir, who will have the opportunity to bowl in the fourth innings for the first time in this series. Bashir has bowled fewer drag-downs and full tosses in this series than he tended to last summer, but has struggled to build any kind of pressure and the vast majority of his wickets have been caught in the deep.
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Stokes gets treatment
Ben Stokes is not moving well, and has to get some treatment from the England physio. He left a ball outside off stump from Nitish Kumar Reddy, and almost immediately appeared to be in pain. He is flat out on his back at the end of the overs, doing some stretches, and it appears to be an issue somewhere in his right thigh, maybe as high as his groin. He finally gets back to his feet, but continues to stretch his leg out while grimacing.
Stokes is going to continue, but this is a real concern for England given his recent injury history - and the role that he has played with the ball so far in this match.
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New balls please
Nagraj Gollapudi at Lord's: While we will need to wait on whether the ICC Cricket Committee will consider Dilip Jajodia’s suggestion of teams being allowed to take the new ball earlier, we decided to look for why and when did cricket decide on having a new ball after 80 overs.
With no direct answers available, we knocked on the doors of MCC and thanks to its Archive & Library Manager Alan Rees, we have some interesting information. Rees referred to Gerald Brodribb's book Next Man In, which says from the around the turn of 19th century, a new ball could be asked for from the start of each innings.
In 1907, Australia adopted the rule of having a new ball after 200 runs were scored. This rule was first applied in first-class cricket. On occasions where the batting team was not inclined to score, bowling teams would bowl deliberate extras to get the total to the 200-mark to seek the new ball.
In 1946, the rule was modified allowing teams to avail a new ball after 55 overs which three years later, in 1949, became 65 overs. According to Brodribb, the MCC’s 1980 code of Laws initially said for matches played in England and lasting minimum of three days the new ball to be available after 75 overs. The counties, though, changed to 100 overs. In the 2017 iteration of its code, MCC changed the rule allowing teams to take the new ball after 80 overs.
The ICC’s playing conditions meanwhile have persisted with the 80-overs rule for taking a new ball for long but there is no confirmed information since when.
PS: While Jajodia’s suggestion is interesting, the counter to that will be: getting a new ball earlier would benefit the ball manufacturers who will get the opportunity to scale up their productions. But the growing concern over the balls going soft swifty needs urgent remedy and the game’s regulators need to treat it seriously.
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Stokes vs spin
Ben Stokes was trapped lbw on the stroke of lunch by Washington Sundar on the final day of the Edgbaston Test, extending his recent troubles against spin. He has averaged 18 against spin since the start of 2024, and plays-and-misses at Sundar as he returns for a second over, which turns out to be a maiden.
Stokes has struggled with the bat of late but as Sidharth Monga wrote in the build-up to this Test, he can always be trusted to take us on a ride.
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No. 1 gets No. 1!
Too good from Jasprit Bumrah. After an uncharacteristically long spell without a wicket - 19 overs in the second innings at Headingley, 15 innings in the first at Lord's - he strikes with an absolute beauty that nips back off the seam, beats Harry Brook's inside edge and pings into the top of his off stump.
The No. 1-ranked Test batter in the world is dismissed by the No. 1-ranked Test bowler, and India are fighting hard with the old ball. In walks Ben Stokes, whose most recent Test century came on this ground more than two years ago.
That's Brook's third dismissal in a row to a nip-backer: he was bowled and trapped lbw by Akash Deep at Edgaston, and India will be well aware of that pattern.
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No. 1 joins No. 2
Harry Brook returned to the top of the ICC's Test batting rankings after his hundred at Edgbaston, overtaking Joe Root, and both men are out in the middle at Lord's.
Brook has already played arguably the shot of the day, driving Jasprit Bumrah through cover-point for four as he overpitches, and will be looking to address a curiously quiet record at Lord's.
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Jadeja strikes immediately!
First ball after tea! Ravindra Jadeja strikes, and Ollie Pope cannot believe what he's done. He puts his hand on his head, and leans over his bat handle. He has to drag himself off, and takes an age to do so. He battled so hard to reach 44 off 103 at tea, then slashed at his first ball of the evening session and edges through to Dhruv Jurel - who takes a good catch, deputising for Rishabh Pant.
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Tea: England 153 for 2
Tea - England 153 for 2 (Root 54*, Pope 44*, Reddy 2-35) vs India
Joe Root and Ollie Pope batted through an uncharacteristically sedate second session at Lord’s, as India plugged away without rewards in the London sun and lost Rishabh Pant to a finger injury. England’s third-wicket stand had reached an unbroken 108 by tea, with Root and Pope adding 70 since the lunch interval.
The stump microphones picked up Mohammed Siraj telling Root that he wanted to see some ‘Bazball’ but England eschewed their usual attacking intent with the bat. India’s seamers went wide outside off stump, hanging in and waiting for a mistake that never came as Pope and Root left the ball alone and played with huge restraint.
Root became the first man to reach 3,000 Test runs against India shortly before reaching 50 for the 103rd time, equalling Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting’s tallies with only Sachin Tendulkar (119) ahead of him. He handed the strike to Pope during Jasprit Bumrah’s five-over spell after lunch, facing only two balls, and put away occasional bad balls from Nitish Kumar Reddy.
It was Reddy who prised the game open for India in the morning session, removing both England openers in his first over after Ben Stokes had chosen to bat first, but he and the rest of the Indian attack struggled with the softer ball. Shubman Gill eventually convinced the umpires to change it after 43 overs, but the replacement did not appear to move significantly more.
Pant’s injury was a concern for India. He hurt his index finger while attempting to gather a rare ball down the leg side from Bumrah, and received treatment on the field before trying to continue. But after five balls, he left the field and continued to receive medical attention in the dressing room, as substitute fielder Dhruv Jurel deputised behind the stumps.
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Another Root 50
1 Root has become the first man to score 3,000 runs against India in Test cricket - and has extended his fine record at Lord's in the process.
103 This is Joe Root's 103rd 50-plus score in Tests, the same number that Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting achieved; only Sachin Tendulkar, with 119, has more.
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Pope breaks the shackles
Ollie Pope rolls his wrists on a pull shot off Nitish Kumar Reddy, and finds the gap between long leg and deep square leg. It's his first boundary in 50 balls faced, and his first since the first over of the afternoon session, and he has played an uncharacteristically quiet innings; for a man with a career strike rate of 65 in Tests, it takes some serious adjustment to chug along in the mid-30s at Lord's.
Kumar Sangakkara presents a package on Sky Sports of India's seamers' plans after lunch, showing that they have hung the ball wide outside off stump; England's batters have left the vast majority of wide balls alone, and have generally been early on the ones that they have played, highlighting how slow this pitch is.
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Slow and steady
2.82 As things stand, this is England's second-slowest partnership worth 50 or more of the Stokes-McCullum era, by runs per over. Root was also involved in the slowest, adding 113 in 43.3 overs with Ben Foakes in Ranchi last year.
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Gill gets his way
One over later, Graham Lloyd is back out in the middle, and the umpires have chosen a suitable replacement. Will this one do any more for India's seamers than the old one?
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Ball goes soft
Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are arguing with umpire Sharfuddoula, trying to convince him that the ball is out of shape and needs changing. Fourth umpire Graham Lloyd got halfway out to the middle with a box of replacements before Sharfuddoula waved him away, having pushed the ball through the gauge.
Both Rishabh Pant and Ben Stokes spoke yesterday about their frustrations at the ball going soft , and it has been a theme of this series that fielding teams have struggled to make anything happen after 30 overs and before the second new ball.
Dilip Jajodia, who owns the Dukes factory, spoke to the Mumbai Mirror this week and suggested that the ICC should consider changing the playing conditions to allow captains to take the second new ball much earlier:
"Maybe the game’s authorities should consider allowing the new ball to be taken somewhere between the 60th and 70th over, instead of the current 80th-over rule. They somehow expect the ball to stay hard until the 79.5th over, which, I’m afraid, it is not possible."
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Sleepy Joe
"I was meant to meet Joe but he had a massive, long nap throughout the afternoon so he missed dinner with everybody. He’s a bit like that. He doesn’t sleep well during Test matches, Joe. I think his sleep comes through the day on the practice days."
Root has been watching tennis at Wimbledon (above) between Tests, but has looked determined in his innings so far today. His steady partnership with Ollie Pope is now worth 67, and while neither batter has scored with any fluency, they are pushing India's seamers into their third and fourth spells.
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England's tempo change
35.4 Overs taken for England to bring up 100, their second slowest of the Stokes-McCullum era. The slowest took them 37.2 overs, in the fourth innings of the Rajkot Test last year.
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Root plays senior pro
Joe Root has worked out that the best way to face Jasprit Bumrah is from the non-striker's end: he faced two balls to Ollie Pope's 28 in Bumrah's five-over spell after lunch, taking singles off both
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) July 10, 2025
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Jurel replaces Pant
Pant stays on for five more balls, but clearly isn't quite right and heads off at the end of Bumrah's over for further treatment. Dhruv Jurel, who kept wicket in three Tests against England in the reverse series 18 months ago, jogs onto the field and will deputise for Pant. He kept wicket in India A's tour games against England Lions before this series, but doing so in a Test match in England for the first time will be a challenge for him.
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Stinger for Pant
Rishabh Pant is in some pain. Bumrah sprays one down the leg side, uncharacteristically, and it slams into Pant's fingers as he sticks his left hand out to try and stop it. The ball diverts down to fine leg for a couple of byes, but Pant needs some treatment and is clearly struggling as he gets his finger taped up.
India do have another wicketkeeping option in their side if required, in KL Rahul, but Dhruv Jurel is among the substitutes and looks as though he is going to head up to the dressing room in case he's required to take over.
After a long delay, Pant decides he will stay on for the time being.
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Finally, a run!
28 Consecutive dot balls between scoring shots for England, between the first ball of the 28th over and the sixth ball of the 32nd.
England are on a go-slow. Bumrah and Siraj are ramping up the pressure, finding a good length and getting the ball to shape in and out just enough to keep Pope and Root guessing, and England can't find the gaps in the infield. Pope finally ticks the score from 89 for 2 to 90 for 2 as Bumrah looks to burst through him with a yorker, which he works into the leg side
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Root's strike management
10 Times Jasprit Bumrah has dismissed Joe Root in Tests. Only Pat Cummins (11) has dismissed Root more.
Joe Root has had a quiet start to this series but his is the wicket that India want more than any other. He's done a great job of ensuring that he faces as little of Jasprit Bumrah as possible so far in this session: in Bumrah's first three overs after lunch, Ollie Pope has faced 17 balls, and Root only one - which he nudged into the off side for a scampered single.
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The Bumrah factor
Bumrah has bowled 10 wicketless overs so far on his comeback but the game feels very different when he is bowling. On the Grade Cricketer podcast this week, Jos Buttler spoke about the "aura" that he possesses based on his experiences of facing him in all formats.
"Bumrah’s the guy at the moment, in all formats. When he gets the ball, you play differently. You just feel like, ‘This is the guy we have to try and keep out. We can’t attack him.’ Or, ‘I’m going to try and attack him,’ and you try, but he’s too good.
"He’s the one that just feels different at the minute; he’s the guy that is head and shoulders above the rest in white-ball cricket especially.
"I was probably quite bad at that in Test cricket. I came up against a few guys where I played the man and the occasion and the aura. I remember in the 2015 Ashes, [Mitchell] Johnson came over and bowled the speed of light… But right now, Bumrah is the guy."
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Slow and steady
3.32 Sampath Bandarupalli: England's run rate of 3.32 in the opening session is the lowest of 17 instances where they batted first since McCullum took over (June 2022). Their previous lowest was 3.66 at Rawalpindi last year, where they were 110/5 in 30 overs before lunch.
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Lunch: England 83 for 2
Lunch - England 83 for 2 (Reddy 2-14) vs India
Nitish Kumar Reddy removed both openers in his first over but England escaped the first session only two wickets down after choosing to bat first at Lord’s. Reddy struck twice in four balls after Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley scraped through the first hour unscathed, before Ollie Pope and Joe Root led England’s recovery with an unbroken stand of 39 before lunch.
Duckett was repeatedly struck on his body in a probing first spell from Jasprit Bumrah, who replaced Prasidh Krishna in India’s only change from the side that won at Edgbaston last week. But England reached the drinks break at 39 for 0, despite a frenetic start from Crawley which featured four boundaries – one via the outside edge – and several plays-and-misses.
Reddy’s double-strike opened up both ends for India. His first wicket was a freebie, a long-hop down the leg side which Duckett under-edged through to Rishabh Pant on the pull, but his second was a beauty. He angled the ball into Crawley, then found late movement away off the seam to take the outside edge, as India sensed an opportunity.
Pope was dropped between those two wickets, edging his first ball – a full outswinger – into the gully, where Shubman Gill could not hold onto a tough, low chance, diving to his right. But after his early life, he grew in confidence alongside Root, and they saw off Bumrah’s third spell to reach the lunch interval at 83 for 2.
Ben Stokes’ decision to bat first on winning the toss – for the third time in a row – was met with cheers at Lord’s, after bowling first backfired at Edgbaston. Gill admitted he was “a bit confused” about what he would have done, but said that he would have leaned towards bowling in the belief that the only assistance from the pitch would come early on the first day.
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Skittles
Joe Root pulls out of his stance very late after being put off by something in his eyeline, and Akash Deep is frustrated. He underarms the ball at the stumps - as though bowling in a very different sport - and hits the stumps, as Root steps towards square leg.
Root and Pope are rebuilding well after that double-strike from Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Bumrah is back in action from the Nursery End as India chase a third wicket before lunch.
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SRT in town
Iconic. pic.twitter.com/aZQEq9CK1I
— Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) July 10, 2025
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Kumble on Kuldeep
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Reddy evokes Irfan
2 Sampath Bandarupalli: Since the start of 2002, only two Indian pacers struck twice in their first over of the innings in men's Tests. Irfan Pathan against Pakistan in Karachi in 2006, where he took a hat-trick and Nitish Kumar Reddy today.
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Reddy, set, go
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Zak Crawley's streaky innings comes to an end on 18 - with 16 of those runs coming from four cover drives, one of which flew over the slips for four.
Nitish Kumar Reddy's first wicket of the over was a freebie, but this is a beautiful bit of bowling: perfect length, angling in then shaping away late to take Crawley's outside edge, with no mistake from Rishabh Pant behind the stumps.
He could have had Ollie Pope first-ball, too: Shubman Gill flung himself low to his right in the gully, but couldn't quite cling onto a tough chance after Pope chased after a full outswinger.
Pope is notoriously frenetic early in his innings - Steve James once labelled him "the worst starter since prawn cocktail" in the Times - and India will fancy a third wicket before lunch.
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Reddy strikes!
India have bowled brilliantly all morning, and their first wicket comes with perhaps the most innocuous ball of the session. Nitish Kumar Reddy replaces Bumrah at the Nursery End, gets flicked off his pads for four, then bowls an 81mph/130kph long-hop down the leg side which Ben Duckett nicks behind as he shapes to pull. A freebie for India, as Duckett trudges off.
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Bumrah changes ends
Jasprit Bumrah started with a four-over spell from the Pavilion End this morning, nipping the ball off the seam and regularly sending it thudding into Ben Duckett's body. But there is lavish swing on offer during his second over from the Nursery End: he beats Duckett on the outside edge with a ball that decks away past the bat, up the slope, then hoops one into Zak Crawley's front pad which is doing too much, beating his leg stump.
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Kohli-watch
Virat Kohli was fired up when he led India to victory at Lord's four years ago, but retired from Tests earlier this year.
He was spotted across London at Wimbledon attending the tennis earlier this week, and Dinesh Karthik is speculating on Sky Sports as to whether he might pop into Lord's at some stage.
"He only lives around the corner. But I don't know if he'll be coming to the game: he's got daddy duties to attend to, with two young kids."
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Crawley responds!
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Crawley continues to play with attacking intent, throwing his hands at three balls wide outside off stump and picking up three boundaries. Two of them are right out of the middle, but the other flies unconvincingly over the slip cordon. Akash Deep has the expression of a man who can't quite believe that he hasn't created a genuine chance.
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Deep all over Crawley
86 Runs in the series for Zak Crawley across the first two Tests - including 65 in the second innings at Headingley
Zak Crawley is living dangerously. "He's tried everything in that over: stepped out, then back in his crease, again stepped out, and then he's gone across," says Ravi Shastri on Sky Sports. "It looked as if the bowler was in [the game] every ball."
He has looked particularly frenetic against Akash Deep, and is changing his approach every ball, as Shastri indicates. He is changing his guard and his stance, batting in and out of his crease, and played two aggressive swipes that you'd expect from a T20 opener, rather than a Test one, in Deep's third over.
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Siraj's new role
20 Mohammed Siraj has opened the bowling in the first innings in each of the last 20 Tests that he has played. The most recent time he did not do so came at Indore in early 2023, when India opened the bowling with spin at both ends.
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Jonny B (Good)
Jonny Bairstow is presented a silver cap in recognition of his 100th Test against India in Dharamsala last year pic.twitter.com/E2w6OsR3wW
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 10, 2025
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Edged... but short
Jasprit Bumrah takes the new ball, and induces an outside edge from Ben Duckett straightaway - but it falls short of Rishabh Pant as he dives low to his left. It prompts Bumrah to suggest that Pant and the slip cordon should stand much closer.
"Aage aa jao, ball carry nahi kar raha hai, soft hai," Bumrah said over the stump microphone - or in English, 'Come forward, the ball is not carrying, it's soft.' You might remember the slip fielders standing incredibly close during the WTC final here last month - which prompted a sickening injury to Steven Smith, as a ball flew into his hands via the outside edge.
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Pitch perfect?
There's always plenty of intrigue in the pitch at Lord's, and I've heard this morning that the grass covering is shorter than it was during last month's WTC final, which saw Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins wreak havoc.
Nagraj Gollapudi at Lord's: Did England make the right choice in electing to bat? The question comes only because it seems there’s a lot of moisture in the Lord’s pitch. It is learned that Karl McDermott, the head groundsman at MCC, has been trying hard to roll frequently over the last few days to ease the moisture content.
That suggests the fast bowlers will get good assistance at least in the first session and that was what the Indians were concerned about on the match eve, thinking it would be challenging to bat on early on. We should find out soon, though, whether Stokes made the right call.
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Pant: 'It just happens with me, man'
Rishabh Pant has been speaking to Dinesh Karthik on Sky Sports this morning - addressing one of the more bizarre aspects of his performance at Edgbaston, as he twice let go of the bat while playing attacking shots.
"It just happens with me, man."
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 10, 2025
Rishabh Pant discusses losing his bat while batting pic.twitter.com/hOvkCcGor3
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Who should take the new ball for India?
Sidharth Monga at Lord's: I think India should give the new ball to Akash Deep, because he is not a swing bowler. The best swing overs in England are 11 to 30, so best for Jasprit Bumrah and Akash to open, extract seam, and then give the swing overs to Mohammed Siraj.
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Toss: England choose to bat
England won the toss and chose to bat first vs India
Ben Stokes won his third toss in a row but defied his recent preference by opting to bat first at Lord’s, as England and India welcomed back Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah respectively.
Stokes chose to bowl first in both of the first two Tests but said that overhead conditions – with Lord’s bathed in sunshine and temperatures set to pass 30 degrees celsius this week – dictated his decision to bat. It is only the third time that Stokes has opted to bat first in home Tests, with England losing on both of the previous occasions.
Shubman Gill, India’s captain, said he was “a bit confused” as to what he would have done if he had won the toss. “I think I would have bowled first,” he said. “I came in yesterday, and the wicket had a bit of green in it. If there’s anything in the wicket, it’s on the first day and in the first session.”
Both teams made a single change from the second Test at Edgbaston, with Archer replacing Josh Tongue and Bumrah returning in place of Prasidh Krishna.
“The mood is good,” Stokes said. “It’s been a very well-fought two matches… We’re pushing towards coming away from Lord’s at 2-1. The bodies are all good. Everyone likes playing at Lord’s. It’s one of those weeks where you’ve got to enjoy it as much as you can.”
Gill has scored 147, 8, 269 and 161 in the series so far. He has played at Lord’s once before, for Glamorgan against Middlesex, but this is his first Test at the venue. “I’m feeling great,” he told Ravi Shastri at the toss. “The hard work, when it pays off, is quite satisfying.”
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Shoaib Bashir
India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Akash Deep, 11 Mohammed Siraj
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Watch the slope
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj both played in India's famous win at Lord's four years ago, but this is the first time that either Akash Deep or Nitish Kumar Reddy will have played there - assuming they keep their spots.
You'll hear plenty about the Lord's slope this week, which runs from left-to-right rather than up-and-down, and it can take visiting bowlers some time to adjust to it. Steve Harmison breaks it down for us in detail above.
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Tendulkar to ring bell
Sachin Tendulkar is at Lord's today, and will ring the five-minute bell before play starts. His name is on the freshly-minted trophy for this series - and his predictions for the series, which he told ESPNcricinfo's Sruthi Ravindranath last month, are looking good.
"The five-minute bell will be rung by Sachin Tendulkar," MCC said in a statement. "The leading Test runscorer of all-time, Tendulkar will ring the bell for the first time at Lord’s, onthe same day that his portrait, by artist Stuart Pearson Wright, is unveiled in the MCC Museum."
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Jofra's return
England have already named their team, making one change from the Edgbaston Test: Josh Tongue is rested, and Jofra Archer makes his return to Test cricket after a four-and-a-half-year absence.
Archer has only played one first-class match since June 2021, bowling 18 overs for Sussex against Durham last month. But Ben Stokes insisted yesterday that he is ready to go.
"Jofra has played a lot of cricket over the last two-and-a-half years," Stokes said. "If we didn’t think he was in a position to get through a Test match as a bowler, we wouldn’t even be considering him for selection.”
England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
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Bumrah's back
Good morning from Lord's, where Jasprit Bumrah has just marked his run-up. Shubman Gill signalled after the second Test at Edgbaston that Bumrah would "definitely" return this week, and this is simply final confirmation that he is back in.
But who should he replace? Prasidh Krishna is the obvious man to make way after an expensive couple of outings in the series so far, but will India get funky with their selection? We'll find out soon, with the toss half an hour away.
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