The England Cricket Team batted very cautiously on the first day of the Lord’s Test against India, unlike the way they have been playing cricket for the past few years under ‘Bazball’.
Today was Day One of the third England vs India Test match of the five-game Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The match is being played at the ‘Mecca of Cricket’, the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, and saw the home side win the toss and decide to bat first. England captain Ben Stokes decided to bat first after winning the toss for only the second time in a Test match in England as the skipper.
England Bats Slow As Joe Root Nears 100 On Day 1
The first 10 or so overs were quite frustrating for India. The ball was certainly moving around and troubling the batters; no wickets fell in that period. The Indian pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Siraj were bowling the correct lines (with Akash peppering in some average balls), but to no avail.
Sometimes, the ball just wouldn’t carry. This happened in the very first over of the game, to which Bumrah said that the ball was going soft on the fourth ball of the day.
But then, breakthrough. Captain Shubman Gill handed the 13th over to all-rounder Nitish Reddy. Having conceded a boundary on the second ball of the over, Reddy bowled the third ball short, which bounced behind the batter Ben Duckett’s shoulder, who looked to pull the ball but edged it to keeper Rishabh Pant. The first wicket of the inning fell at the score of 43. Then, on the very next ball, the incoming Ollie Pope was dropped in Gully by Gill, who let go of a very difficult chance.
While both the openers looked in trouble for the entire time they were on the pitch, that sentiment is doubled for Zak Crawley, who missed more balls than he scored on. On the last ball of Nitish’s first over, he bowled a fine delivery that fell in the line of the fourth stump and swung out. Crawley, who has a habit of touching the deliveries he should let go, edged the ball and was caught behind, 44/2. On the first ball of the next over, Pope edged the ball again, which fell short of slip.
Check Out: England Bats Slow As Joe Root Nears 100 On Day 1
The first session ended at 83/2, with Ollie Pope and Joe Root settling on the crease. At some point in the second session, Rishabh Pant seemed to have hurt, maybe fractured a finger, and was replaced by Dhruv Jurel on the field. But an uneventful session with slow scoring saw England reach 153 runs without losing any more wickets. Root made yet another half-century.
But immediately after Tea, England lost their third, as Pope edged a beauty of a delivery by Ravindra Jadeja and was caught behind, getting out for 44 as the team score was now 153/3.
Soon after, the Indian Cricket Team took a fourth wicket, this time with some Bumrah magic. Harry Brook, playing at 11, was bowled by a ball that pitched outside off but shaped back in, clipping the off-stump, 172/4.
As the conditions were not entirely batting-friendly, England did not make any quick runs on the day. Only Nitish Reddy and Akash Deep had an economy of over three. Turns out, making England abandon the Bazball ethos only takes one dominant win over them, which India achieved in the second Test at Edgbaston.
After the fourth wicket, the third session saw Joe Root and Ben Stokes try to play the day out. While some chances were created, no more wickets fell. And so, a team that regularly scored over 400 runs in one day in a Test match played 83 overs and made only 251 runs at the end of Day One. However, with only four wickets down, the Three Lions remain in the driving seat.
Joe Root ended the day agonizingly close to another ton. He will remain at 99 not out overnight..
As for the Men in Blue, they will look to bowl the English out quick on Day Two. The England vs India five-match Test series currently stands at 1-1. The winner of this match will take a decisive lead in this series going into the final two matches.
Check Out: England Bats Slow As Joe Root Nears 100 On Day 1
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