India and England faced off in the highly anticipated third Test on Thursday, July 10, at the legendary Lord’s Cricket Ground, with the series tied at 1-1. Fans would have expected a thrilling ride on the first day, especially after losing 14 wickets on Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final last month at this site. However, this was an entirely different surface, with adequate assistance for the bowlers, but batters who were willing to slog it out performed admirably.

Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley did admirably to withstand Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep’s probing new-ball bursts after captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first. However, Nitish Kumar Reddy removed both openers in his first and fourteenth overs of the day. Joe Root and Ollie Pope demonstrated remarkable resilience and drive in leading England to lunch.

In the second session, the two right-handed hitters showed little purpose to score, preferring to keep their wickets intact. Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj even attempted to coax them into playing aggressively, but they were seasoned enough to avoid the pranks.

Joe Root reached the half-century mark before the tea break.

England emerged unscathed as they confounded the Indian bowlers with their slow batting.

Ravindra Jadeja gave India the much-needed breakthrough on the first ball after the Tea break. He got the better of Pope, who made 44 off 108 deliveries. Harry Brook came out to the crease but his knock was cut short by Jasprit Bumrah. The 26-year-old could only make 11 off 20 balls.

Stokes walked out to the middle, joining forces with Root with the score at 172/4. The seasoned campaigners batted with caution and added an unbeaten 79-run stand off 170 balls. Root finished unbeaten on 99 off 191 deliveries. Meanwhile, Stokes remained not out on 39 after facing 102 balls.