Where is bazball? Siraj asks Root in 2nd session | ENG vs IND 3rd Test

'Bazball' seemed to take a back seat for Stokes's men, as the tentative start by ENG was followed by two quick wickets from all-rounder Nitish Reddy, who struck at the perfect moment for the visitors.

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

The third Test between England and India at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground began with skipper Ben Stokes winning the toss once again, and this time deciding to bat first under sunny skies. While fans expected another entertaining batting display from the Three Lions, England’s openers Crawley and Duckett greeted them with a slow start in the first session.

 

‘Bazball’ seemed to take a back seat for Stokes’s men, as the tentative start by was followed by two quick wickets from all-rounder Nitish Reddy, who struck at the perfect moment for the visitors. 

Lowest run-rate in a session for ENG in bazball era at home
Match	Day/Session	Run-rate
vs IND, Lord's 2025	Day 1, Session 2	2.63
vs NZ, Lord's 2022	Day 3, Session 2	2.72
vs AUS, Leeds 2023	Day 2, Session 1	3.19
vs SA, Manchester 2022	Day 2 Session 2	3.23
vs NZ, Lord's 2022	Day 1, Session 3	3.20

 

 

 

'Where is bazball?'  Joe Root also found it difficult to find his rhythm, and Mohammed Siraj seized the moment to rattle him mentally by engaging in a brief verbal exchange. After completing his over, the Indian fast bowler walked up to Root in a charged manner, daring him to take the attacking route and stick to the Bazball approach despite the challenging pitch conditions.

Root, however, chose not to respond, staying composed and focused on weathering the testing spell. Siraj’s fiery attitude became one of the standout moments of the second session, adding intensity and entertainment to the contest for the fans.

  Skipper Gill plays mind games with England batters

While Ollie Pope and Joe Root continued England’s sluggish approach, it offered Indian skipper Shubman Gill the perfect opportunity to taunt them. With the run rate dipping to just 2.95, Gill’s sledging was caught on stump mic: “No more entertaining cricket, boys, welcome back to boring Test cricket, lads.”  While the modern day fans would this style of play boring, the old Test cricket fans would have loved to see more of this kind of 'classical' batting nowadays by the Three Lions. 

Slowest 50s for Joe Root in the bazball era
Match	balls
vs SL, Manchester 2024	108
vs IND, Ranchi 2024	108
vs IND, Lord's 2025*	102
vs WI, Nottingham 2024	91
vs IND, Dharamshala 2024	88

 

Though Joe Root eventually reached his 67th Test fifty, it was one of his slowest in the Bazball era, taking 102 deliveries to do so.

 

Since the Bazball era began, England have batted 72 times, and this marks only the second instance where they’ve scored at less than 3 runs per over in the first 40 overs of an innings. The only other occurrence was during their fourth-innings chase against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2022, also in the first Test of the Bazball phase, when they reached 112/4 off 40 overs while chasing 277.  As a comparison, England’s average run rate in the first 40 overs during this period is 4.6, the highest among all teams, with India a distant second at 3.63.