Lord's Test boils over as England and India finish neck and neck after day three

The National

17 hours ago

The third Test between England and India saw intense drama and a heated exchange of words towards the end of day three's play as both teams finished on the same score after their first innings at Lord's on Saturday.
With the series tied at 1-1, there was nothing to separate the two teams as India also got bowled out for 387 just 15 minutes before the end of play.
It was only the ninth instance in nearly 150 years of Test cricket that the scores were level after the first innings.
England then took their time to start their innings and stalled the game as much as they were allowed to under the rules, finishing on 2-0 in the only over that could be bowled by India's Jasprit Bumrah.
Opener Zak Crawley was in the firing line as he tried to take as much time as possible before the start and in between deliveries, drawing the ire of India captain Shubman Gill who confronted Crawley with some expletive-laden words.
Crawley got hit on the finger by a Bumrah delivery and asked for treatment, which saw Gill confront the England openers once again. This time, Ben Duckett too got involved, leading to a chaotic and tense end to the day's play.
Captain Gill is expected to face punishment for his outburst which was picked up by the stump mic.
The match and the series is finely poised with the Lord's pitch offering extreme variation in pace, bounce and swing.
Earlier, opener KL Rahul delivered once again as he scored exactly 100 before losing his wicket off his very next ball soon after lunch when he edged spinner Shoaib Bashir to slip.
Ravindra Jadeja scored a vital 72 while wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant made an entertaining 76 while battling pain in his injured index finger. Pant was run out brilliantly by England captain Ben Stokes off what proved to be the last ball of the morning session.
All-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy (30) and Washington Sundar (23) chipped in with decent lower-order contributions.
There had been joyous scenes at Lord's on Friday when Jofra Archer marked his return to Test cricket following more than four years of injury-induced exile with a third-ball dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
But Archer's first ball on Saturday was glanced fine for four by left-handed Pant.
Three balls later, Pant carved Archer over the infield as he flayed an 87mph delivery on a good length in front of square for four.
Rahul then drove first-change Brydon Carse for four and later glanced, square-cut and clipped the fast bowler for three more boundaries in successive deliveries.
Pant who scored twin hundreds in India's defeat in the first Test and a quick-fire 65 in a series-levelling win at Edgbaston, completed a 55-ball fifty in style by hooking Stokes for six.
India were in complete command until Pant's rush of blood saw him run out by Stokes's direct hit on the stumps from cover-point.
Archer continued to impress upon his return as he bowled with hostility and high pace, topping the speed gun at 94mph, easily the fastest ball of the series.
In fact, his second spell was faster than the first as Archer kept every Indian batter on edge. He finished with stunning figures of 2-52 from 23.2 overs. Seamer Chris Woakes took 3-84.
There was bad news for England as spinner Bashir had to go off the field with an injury to the little finger on his left hand, sustained after lunch off his own bowling when he stopped a fierce shot down the ground from Jadeja.
The spinner didn't reappear for the rest of the innings and was facing further assessment after stumps.