The hosts, England, have managed to keep themselves in a commanding position on Day 3 of the third Test vs India at Lord’s despite losing three wickets in quick succession in the first session. By the time Lunch was called, the Three Lions had put 353 runs on the board at the loss of 7 wickets and will now be looking for quick runs in the second session.
The first session of Day 2 started with Root scoring a boundary off the first ball to complete his 37th Test century, climbing to the fifth spot in the list of players with the most career Test hundreds. But 12 balls later, Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up the stumps of Ben Stokes (44) to end the crucial 88-run stand for the fifth wicket between Root and Stokes.
India had a chance to strike again in the very next over when Jamie Smith edged a ball from Siraj to Rahul at second slip, but the latter dropped a sitter. The English keeper survived to play another ball and took a single off that ball to complete his 100 Test runs in just 21 innings, taking him equal to South Africa’s Quinton de Kock with the fewest innings to 100 Test runs for a wicketkeeper-batter.
However, England were given no time to breathe as Bumrah, on the first two balls of the very next over, clean bowled Joe Root (104) and got Chris Woakes (0) caught behind to put England on the complete back foot. But England fought back strongly, with Smith and Carse putting up a half-century stand for the eighth wicket.
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Smith went on to complete yet another Test half-century as the session came to an end with England adding 102 runs and India taking three wickets. Jamie Smith (51* not out) and Brydon Carse (33* not out) will be the two batters taking guard for England at the start of the second session.
England scorecard at Lunch on Day 2:
| England 1st Inning | ||||||
| 353-7 (105 ov) CRR:3.36 | ||||||
| Batter | Dismissal | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Zak Crawley | c R Pant b N K Reddy | 18 | 43 | 4 | 0 | 41.86 |
| Ben Duckett | c R Pant b N K Reddy | 23 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 57.5 |
| Ollie Pope | c (sub D Jurel) b R Jadeja | 44 | 104 | 4 | 0 | 42.31 |
| Joe Root | b J Bumrah | 104 | 199 | 10 | 0 | 52.26 |
| Harry Brook | b J Bumrah | 11 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 55 |
| Ben Stokes (C) | b J Bumrah | 44 | 110 | 4 | 0 | 40 |
| Jamie Smith (WK) | Not out | 51 | 53 | 6 | 0 | 96.23 |
| Chris Woakes | c (sub D Jurel) b J Bumrah | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brydon Carse | Not out | 33 | 62 | 4 | 0 | 53.23 |
| Extras | 25 (b 11, Ib 12, w 0, nb 2, p 0) | |||||
| Total | 353 (7 wkts, 105 Ov) | |||||
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | NB | ECO |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 24 | 4 | 63 | 4 | 0 | 2.63 |
| Akash Deep | 22 | 2 | 92 | 0 | 1 | 4.18 |
| Mohammed Siraj | 20 | 5 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 3.15 |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | 17 | 0 | 62 | 2 | 0 | 3.65 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 12 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 2.42 |
| Washington Sundar | 10 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2.1 |

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