LONDON: England were seemingly following a template ever since the five-match Test series started at Headingley. If the coin flipped their way, they didn't hesitate in putting their opponents in. Why not? The approach suits their style of play as even the surfaces in the country are being prepared keeping their aggressive approach with the bat in mind. It, however, has fetched mixed results so far in the ongoing series against India as they won the first Test and lost the next.
Drifting away from the tried and tested method was an option when Shubman Gill and Co outbatted them to level the series 1-1 at Edgbaston a few days ago. But it was highly unlikely for them to go for it, especially for the Lord's Test, where the strip was being touted to be more conducive for the bowlers in comparison to previous two surfaces.
Their skipper Ben Stokes, however, is known to surprise all and sundry with his decisions. He did that in the first match when he invited India to bat, inviting sharp criticism from former players and cricket pundits. The script remained unchanged in the second match as well. So when Stokes won the toss for the third time in a row on Thursday, he was expected to opt for bowling given the nature of the wicket but the 34-year-old preferred otherwise, once again surprising all and sundry.
Apparently, when Stokes and the England team management might be contemplating the surprise move or have taken a decision on it in the morning, India captain Gill was still confused. He said so after the toss and added he would probably have bowled first as the wicket was likely to do something in the first session. Notwithstanding the loss of toss, Gill got what he wanted.
Interestingly, it was only the second time in 12 home Tests that England opted to bat first in Bazball era.
The hosts started slowly but steadily as openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley negotiated the probing opening spells from Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep to see off the first hour of play. It was then Gill handed the ball to all-rounder Nitish Reddy in the 14th over. That over from Reddy tilted the balance in India's favour as the bowler sent back both openers to reduce the hosts to 44/2.
The twin blows might have given immense confidence to the Indian camp and even reaffirmed their faith on talks surrounding the pitch ahead of the match. However, it didn't turn out the way as Joe Root and Ollie Pope added 109 runs for the third wicket to shift the momentum in the home team's favour.
Slowest in the Bazball era
The duo batted cautiously and that was reflected in England's run rate till lunch when the scorecard was reading 83/2 after 25 overs. It was 3.32 at the break, the lowest scoring rate in the opening session in 17 instances when they batted first since Brendon McCullum took over as head coach in June 2022.
Root completed his second half-century of the series in the process as Indian bowlers toiled for wickets. Even before reaching the mark, he became the first batter to aggregate 3000 Test runs against India. He and Pope frustrated the Indian bowling attack as the duo played with huge restraint even forcing Mohammed Siraj to ask Root to play Bazball cricket.
It eventually took bowlers more than 35 overs to break the partnership and strangely it came via left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. It was the first ball after tea, 50th over of the innings, when Pope tried to hit an away turning ball only to edge it which was brilliantly pocketed by substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, who was on the field as a substitute for regular glovesman Rishabh Pant, who got hit on his left index finger while collecting Jasprit Bumrah's delivery which was going down the leg in the 34th over.
The ace pacer then produced an in cutter to castle Harry Brook. Gill even brought in Reddy and Washington Sundar in search of wickets but Stokes and Root stayed firm defending more and dispatching occasional balls to the boundary ropes.
The day, which started with England diverting from their usual template, ended in similar fashion as the hosts shunned their attacking intent for watchful batting.