A bright and sunny Lord’s welcomed the Indian team as it trained for one final time before the third Test, beginning on Thursday.
Following the pattern, head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill had a close look at the pitch before they had a quick chat with the curators.
And for the next couple of hours, Gill, Rishabh Pant and K.L. Rahul had long sessions, where Deepak Chahar — who is in England on a rehabilitation programme — bowled to them under the watchful eyes of Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel.
Coming on the back of a rather one-sided win in Birmingham, the in-form Indian batters now need to back themselves on a potentially challenging surface, where the fast bowlers could make their presence felt.
With England naming Jofra Archer in its XI after four and a half years and Jasprit Bumrah set to replace Prasidh Krishna in India’s line-up, an exciting contest awaits.
The last time the two teams squared off at the historic venue, back in 2021, India managed a convincing victory. The focus now will be to build on the Edgbaston success and extend the lead in the five-match series.
Vice-captain Pant said that clear communication between the skipper and the players helped the side bounce back after the Leeds reverse.
“When you have a good camaraderie off the field, it eventually shows on the field, and that is exactly what happened,” Pant said. “Hopefully, we can do the same thing with the whole team going forward and just make it one big unit,” he said.
India piling on the runs and finding success in Edgbaston has forced England to move from its original template of preparing flat tracks. No wonder, ahead of what could be a series-defining fixture, the home team is now set to dish out a track that offers a fair amount of seam movement.
Unique challenge
Add to that, one could expect a rather unique challenge of a slope — running up and down — at the iconic venue.
However, India doesn’t seem perturbed. The batting unit, barring Karun Nair, has clicked. On the bowling side of things, Jasprit Bumrah’s return further bolsters the pace line-up, which already features the in-form Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, who had a magical outing in Birmingham.
However, on the eve of the contest, India continued to play mind games with England as Pant said that a decision on the bowling combination will be taken closer to the game.
England will be banking on Archer to find his rhythm fast. The host will also need Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes to complement the returning speedster. The home team’s top- and middle-order batters have lacked consistency and it’s time for captain Ben Stokes and the seasoned Joe Root to step up and play some innings of impact in a bid to keep England in the hunt.
The teams: England (XI): Ben Stokes (Capt.), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer and Shoaib Bashir.
India (from): Shubman Gill (Capt.), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul, B. Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav.
Match starts at 3:30 p.m. IST.
Published – July 09, 2025 11:23 pm IST
