London: Under the blazing summer sun, on a pitch which curiously turned brown overnight and in front of a packed Lord’s, Day One of the third Test turned out to be a paradox of everything this series has been about leading into this match. As England laboured to 251/4 at stumps, conventional and dogged Test cricket made a comeback. Going by the first two Tests, the two teams had promised edge-of-the-seat action thrillers. On Thursday, they delivered a classic art movie with neither team being able to pull away. It had to be Joe Root playing the lead role. He dished out a masterclass in how tough Test cricket is truly played. The Lord’s pitch has been the toughest one to bat on in this series. It was sluggish, partly two-paced and had some variable bounce with enough movement for the seamers and grip for the spinners through the day. People here in London said that Thursday felt like the hottest of this English summer. It was 31 degrees, but it could have easily burnt the skin. The conditions demanded out-and-out grind. Root batting on 99 off 191 balls stood out from the pack. He survived Jasprit Bumrah’s probing spell, Mohammed Siraj’s consistency with line and length, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s unpredictability and Ravindra Jadeja’s grip and turn.
In a departure from the modern game’s attacking cricket, the years rolled back on Thursday. England seemed to have taken a step back from their Bazball brand of cricket. One may argue that India may have dealt a severe blow to England’s obdurate philosophy of ultra-aggressive cricket with the big win at Edgbaston last week. It was evident England were deviating from their core principles when Ben Stokes chose to bat first on a pitch many believed had more juice for the bowlers compared to the flat decks in Leeds and Birmingham. The ‘we-will-chase-anything’ theory was put in the cupboard. Opener Zak Crawley did try to break free in the first hour with a few swipes at the Indian pacers but he couldn’t connect any. But there was obvious intent to bat long than bat fast as Crawley and Ben Duckett survived a probing first hour from India’s three lead seamers Bumrah, Siraj and Akash Deep. It took Reddy to use the slope and send back both openers caught behind in the 14th over. That was the fastest the game moved in the day.
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Root took control from there. England had come in with a new gameplan. They were not going to go out of the way to push the game forward. They wanted to stay in the game for longer periods of time. India went wicketless in the second session. But they never let the pressure ease. England went through a phase of playing 26 successive dot balls. It was a distant thought till the last game. It looked like the game had come to a standstill but Root was quietly gaining advantage and wearing down the Indian bowlers with a 109-run partnership with Ollie Pope for the third wicket. Jadeja struck off the first ball after tea with the ball turning enough to get Pope’s bat’s edge to substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel for 44 off 104 balls. India looked like getting some momentum at 172/4 when Bumrah breached Harry Brook’s defence for 11. India kept coming at England. But the two senior-most batters were not going to give India any kind of opening. Stokes dropped anchor and Root kept the scoreboard ticking. England’s approach will be up for debate, majorly because of the claims they had made in their bid to save Test cricket. But one can’t fault them for the cricket they played to keep the Indians at bay on Day One.
