India and England capped off another brilliant day of Test cricket at the ‘home of cricket’ the Lord’s in London, as there was nothing to separate the sides after Day 3. The day ebbed and flowed from one side to the other treating fans with another riveting day of cricket’s purest format.
From Rishabh Pant’s bodacious strokes to KL Rahul’s gritty hundred, the day had everything one could ask for as England came at India with everything in their arsenal, but the visitors managed to get parity in the first innings at the end of the day’s play. To add to the drama, the two teams were at each other
Pant began in his usual fashion by charging down the track against Jofra Archer as he continued to struggle with his finger injury. After a fiery start, the duo had a quiet phase, batting against Archer and Chris Woakes, who were in the middle of a good spell. However, it didn’t take too long for Pant to get into the groove and start playing his shots as he danced down the track to get his third boundary of the day.
England vs India 3rd Test Day 3 Updates
At the other end, Rahul also took on Brydon Carse and got a move on in his innings, hitting the England speedster for three successive fours. Amid the flow of runs, Ben Stokes began targeting Pant with a short-ball plan, seeing the batter struggle with his finger injury. As many as six fielders were placed on the leg side as Stokes made Pant hook and pull targeting his injured finger, a tactic which was criticised by Sunil Gavaskar.
KL Rahul continues love-affair with Lord’s
However, Pant was in no mood to back down as he continued to hook Stokes and brought up his half-century. India were in a commanding position at the stroke of lunch, as Rahul and Pant had added 141 runs for the fourth wicket. England looked dejected as all of their plans fell flat and India added 103 runs in the first session.
With everything going against England, captain Ben Stokes rose to the occasion and ran out Pant for 74 in the last over of the session with a direct hit as the India wicketkeeper tried to bring Rahul back on strike on 98. As a result, England had something to celebrate in the dressing room after a complete dominant show by India.
In the second session, Rahul brought up his much-deserved century, becoming the second India batter to have multiple Test hundreds at Lord’s. However, he failed to convert it into a big score, edging Shoaib Bashir to first slip. Hence, India lost two wickets on either side of lunch, giving England an opening into the game.
Jadeja stitches crucial stands down the order
Captain Stokes wasted no time and brought back Jofra Archer and made him attack Nitish Kumar Reddy with a barrage of bouncers. Apart from the bouncer threat, Nitish and Ravindra Jadeja survived several run-out chances as the duo had terrible miscommunication while running.
Jadeja and Sundar got into their shells as England took the new ball and continued to challenge both batters. However, the duo saw off the threat and took India into tea without any more casualties. Jadeja and Reddy added 72 runs for the sixth wicket, frustrating the England bowlers before captain Stokes once again helped his team get a breakthrough. Jadeja got another trustworthy partner in Washington Sundar as he continued his rich form and brought up his third successive half-century of the series.
Jadeja and Sundar added another 50 runs for the seventh wicket, further frustrating Stokes and his men. There was more twist in the tale late in the day as India last four wickets for 11 runs.
– Ends