ENG vs IND 3rd Test Day 1: Root shines on 'Bazball'-less day at Lord's

England scored just 70 runs in the second session of the day, which is the lowest since they introduced Bazball cricket while batting for a full session

The famous Bazball cricket of England went missing on Day 1 of the third Test against India at Lord’s, as the English side scored 251 runs for the loss of four wickets after 83 overs of cricket played. However, despite not scoring runs at their usual pace, the England side has kept themselves in a commanding position with the help of Joe Root’s brilliant unbeaten 99.

 

India also suffered a huge blow in the session after their vice-captain and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant walked out of the field due to injury, being replaced by Dhruv Jurel as substitute keeper. There is no official report on how severe Pant’s injury is or whether he will come out to bat or not, but the Indian management will hope it is just a minor niggle. Given the level of form Pant is in with the bat, it will be a big loss for the Indian batting order, who are looking to take the lead in the series by winning the match. 

 

Earlier, English skipper Ben Stokes won the toss for the third straight time in the series but, unlike the first two Tests, opted to bat first at Lord’s. England started well in the first hour, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett denying frontline Indian pacers any chance of success while scoring runs at a steady pace. They added 43 runs for the first wicket before Nitish Reddy, who was brought into the attack right after the first drinks break of the day, removed Ben Duckett (18) and Zak Crawley (23) in the same over, as England lost both its openers in the span of just three balls.

 

However, Joe Root and Ollie Pope then went on to add an unbeaten 39 runs for the third wicket to avoid any more damage for the hosts, taking England’s total after the first session to 83 for 2.

 

In the second session, Indian pacers kept the pressure on the English side. India conceded just 33 runs in the first 15 overs of the session, which included an incredible 27-dot-ball spree. The pace quartet of India in the match (Bumrah, Siraj, Akash Deep and Nitish Reddy) kept bowling with line variations to keep England guessing. But despite being chained down, the English pair of Root and Pope refused to give up their wicket and stood silently, defending everything India threw at them.

 

Meanwhile, Root completed his 66th Test fifty and crossed 3,000 Test runs against India to keep his personal accolades record rolling. By the end of the second session, they had added 68 runs without the loss of any wicket.

 

The start of the third session was all India, as on the very first ball post tea, Jadeja removed Ollie Pope (44) to finally give India the much-needed breakthrough. Five overs later, Jasprit Bumrah struck to remove Harry Brook (11) as India got themselves truly back in the game.

 

Meanwhile, Root continued his innings at Lord’s as he remained not out on 99 to end the day and added an unbeaten 79 runs for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes (39 not out) to end the day for England without any further damage and set the stage for an exciting Day 2 action.

 

England 1st innings scorecard after Day 1: 

 

England 1st Innings
Batting	Dismissal	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Zak Crawley	c †Pant b Nitish Kumar Reddy	18	43	4	0	41.86
Ben Duckett	c †Pant b Nitish Kumar Reddy	23	40	3	0	57.5
Ollie Pope	c sub (DC Jurel) b Jadeja	44	104	4	0	42.3
Joe Root	not out	99	191	9	0	51.83
Harry Brook	b Bumrah	11	20	2	0	55
Ben Stokes (c)	not out	39	102	3	0	38.23
Extras	(b 4, lb 11, nb 2) 17
Total	83 Ov (RR: 3.02) 251/4
Bowling	O	M	R	W	ECON	WD
Jasprit Bumrah	18	3	35	1	1.94	0
Akash Deep	17	2	75	0	4.41	0
Mohammed Siraj	14	5	33	0	2.35	0
Nitish Kumar Reddy	14	0	46	2	3.28	0
Ravindra Jadeja	10	1	26	1	2.6	0
Washington Sundar	10	1	21	0	2.1	0