3rd Test: Joe Root Ends Day One On 99* As England Reach 251/4 Against India (ld)

Nitish Kumar Reddy: Joe Root showed his class by making runs on a hard-fought and attritional day of Test match cricket to be 99 not out as England reached 251/4 in 83 overs against India at stumps on Day One of third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at the Lord's here on Thursday.

On a hot sunny day at the iconic venue, runs came slowly but that did not mean the cricket was any less absorbing for both teams, especially with England playing in an anti-Bazball style, as seen from their run-scoring pace being at just 3.02 runs per over on a pitch which isn’t exactly a batting paradise.

Root, who curbed his instincts to hit only nine boundaries in his unbeaten knock coming off 191 balls, will come back on Day Two to reach his 37th Test hundred, 11th against India and eighth at the Lord’s. It was a day on which grinding and being boring suited England and Root, after the crowd cheered them on when they won the toss and elected to bat first.

Root was involved in a partnership of 109 for the third wicket with Ollie Pope, who made 44 and at the close of day one, he is in an unbroken 79-run stand with his skipper Ben Stokes, who reached 39 not out off 102 balls despite limping due to a niggle.

For India, they will feel happy about keeping things tight, with Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja being amongst the wicket-takers. They will also be hoping that Rishabh Pant is cleared to keep wickets on day two, after he went off the field due to a blow on his left index finger.

Pushed into bowling first, Bumrah, coming in for Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep were drawing edges, with the latter being all over a struggling Zak Crawley, who shuffled across his crease and stance in an over off his third over, resembling a cat on a hot tin roof. In the eighth over, Crawley took three fours off wide balls from Akash – including one going unconvincingly over the slip cordon.

After bowling four overs from the Pavilion End and troubling Ben Duckett with seam movement, Bumrah beat him and Crawley’s inside edge with swing from the Nursery End. After the drinks break, India’s bowling change worked when Duckett was undone by a slower ball from Reddy and gloved a pull to Pant’s right.

With a glittering reputation as a bowler who can strike with the new-ish ball, Reddy ended the 14th over by taking out Crawley with a length ball swinging away at the last moment and extra bounce taking his edge behind to Pant.

With Pope being typically frenetic, Root did the majority of run-making by driving and flicking Mohammed Siraj for two fours, before glancing Akash for another boundary, as a session with shared honours came to an end.

The second session began with Pope nicely flicking Bumrah through square-leg for four. But after that, Bumrah and Siraj turned out to be a menace for Root and Pope by bowling maidens and building the pressure. Bumrah even managed to beat Pope and hit him on the pads in consecutive deliveries.

After 28 dot balls in a row, Pope got a run off Bumrah, by somehow managing to squeeze his vicious inswinging yorker to mid-wicket. With wickets not coming, India also suffered a blow when Pant put his left hand out to try and stop a down-leg delivery from Bumrah, but it hit him on the fingertips of his left hand and left him in immense pain, which needed treatment from the physio Kamlesh Jain.

Pant stayed on for the rest of the 34th over and then walked off the field, with Jurel stepping up as his substitute behind the stumps. Amidst all this, Root and Pope remained resilient to bring up the fifty of their partnership, before the former unfurled a lovely square drive off Siraj.

After the drinks break, Root and Pope continued to be patient before the former was in complete control of chipping and cutting Reddy for two boundaries, with the second one coming post a ball change after 42 overs. Root then brought up his 67th Test fifty by clipping Reddy through fine leg for four, sandwiched between Pope taking leg-side boundaries off Akash.

The duo brought up the century of their partnership before ending the session in England’s favour. But Jadeja struck immediately on the first ball of the final session, as Pope edged behind to substitute wicketkeeper Jurel, who took a brilliant catch while standing up to the stumps to send back the batter for 44.

Harry Brook hit two quick deliveries before a brilliant nip-backer from Bumrah sneaked past his defence to smash into the stumps, as the world's number one Test bowler removed the top-ranked red-ball batter. Stokes, despite looking edgy against spin, took two boundaries off Akash before glancing Reddy for a boundary, while Root danced down the pitch to drive the all-rounder for four more.

Though Stokes was in discomfort due to a groin issue, Root continued to make runs by sweeping Jadeja for four. Despite the second new ball taken in by India and some discomfort caused by ladybirds, Root and Stokes were solid in their play till stumps on a solid old-school day of Test match cricket.

Harry Brook hit two quick deliveries before a brilliant nip-backer from Bumrah sneaked past his defence to smash into the stumps, as the world's number one Test bowler removed the top-ranked red-ball batter. Stokes, despite looking edgy against spin, took two boundaries off Akash before glancing Reddy for a boundary, while Root danced down the pitch to drive the all-rounder for four more.

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England 251/4 in 83 overs (Joe Root 99 not out, Ollie Pope 44; Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-46, Ravindra Jadeja 1-26) against India

Article Source: IANS