ENG v IND, 3rd Test: Bazball on trial as buoyant India smell blood at Lord's

Time changes everything. Doesn't it? Just a couple of weeks ago, there were murmurs in England that Ben Stokes and his men would treat the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy as a tune-up - a gentle prelude to the Ashes. India were without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The talk was all about who wasn't here.

But Shubman Gill and his young brigade made their point early: this series wasn't about the missing; it was about the ones who've arrived. Leeds, the series opener, didn't quite go to script for India - despite a strong show with the bat. But in Birmingham, they landed a punch that rattled England, bruised Bazball's ego, and brought the hype crashing down. And they did it without their spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah.

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Now, Lord's, the Home of Cricket, braces for a clash that could tilt the series. No one's talking about Ashes any more. The spotlight is fixed on this week, on this stage, on whether England can handle Bumrah's return after the hammering at Edgbaston. In response, England have rolled the dice, calling back express fast bowler Jofra Archer after four years, hoping he can slow down Gill and his batters, who tore through records on that Edgbaston featherbed.

THE SHIFT IN MOOD

The swagger has dimmed; in London, you can sense a storm quietly brewing.

What sounded like bravado two weeks ago now feels like panic wrapped in confusion. England's playbook has been rattled. In the Bazball era, they have thrived on flat decks, backing themselves to out-hit anyone. They chased 371 at Leeds, 378 at Edgbaston three years ago. But after Gill's twin blockbusters (269 and 161) and India's mountain of over 1,000 runs in Birmingham, that script looks shredded.

A target of 608 was too tall, even for Test cricket's self-anointed revolutionaries.

"Abhi dekhenge kaisa wicket dhe raha hai Lord's mein. Mujhe nahi lagta hai itna flat wicket dena wala hai woh," captain Gill said after the 336-run mauling at Edgbaston, a subtle jab, but sharp enough to sting.

And that's where England's dilemma lies. Do they dare spice up the Lord's pitch? Make it green, and they unleash a well-rested Bumrah alongside a fired-up Siraj and Akash Deep, who looked every bit a disrupter-in-the-making. Keep it flat, and Gill's appetite for carnage only grows.

England's entire identity in this era rests on pressure: they bully bowling attacks, score at breakneck pace, and scoff at draws. And their 4-plus run rate backs it. But on trickier tracks, when they're asked to fight, grind, or survive, the answers aren't always there.

Shubman Gill's India, meanwhile, are humming. Their batting is in autopilot mode. With Bumrah slotting back into a unit already buzzing after Akash Deep's Edgbaston blitz, the bowling looks mean and loaded. England, on the other hand, are bruised and, more importantly, confused.

At Lords, cricket's cathedral of quiet grace, England's loudest revolution faces its biggest test.

ENGLAND VS INDIA, LORD'S PITCH AND CONDITIONS

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The Lord's pitch has been the biggest talking point in the lead-up to the third Test. Are England going to bite the bullet and opt for a change? Head coach Brendon McCullum has asked for a bit more help for his bowlers from the Lord's surface. And on T-minus one, the 22 yards at Lord's had a healthy tinge of green, suggesting it would be more friendly to pacers.

While Lord's has traditionally been livelier than most other England venues, whether it will actually favour the home side remains to be seen.

In the World Test Championship final played here in June, batters struggled in the first innings, but the pitch progressively got better for batting. South Africa chased down 282 with five wickets to spare in the final innings against Australia in that WTC final.

The impact of the hotter-than-usual summer in London remains to be seen. The temperature is expected to climb above 32 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

ENGLAND VS INDIA: HEAD-TO-HEAD

At Lord's, India and England have faced off 19 times. England have won 12 of those encounters, while India have managed just three victories.

However, since the turn of the century, it's been evenly split - 2-2 - with India notching famous wins in 2014 and 2021.

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England, notably, have lost eight of their 28 Tests at Lord's since 2000. Four of those defeats have come against subcontinental teams.

ENG v IND, 3rd TEST TEAM NEWS

England, as usual, announced their XI on the eve of the Test match. They've made only one change - bringing back Jofra Archer in place of Josh Tongue. All eyes will be on Archer, who will be playing his first Test in four years and only his second first-class match in that period. Can his injury-prone body handle the rigours of red-ball cricket?

Captain Ben Stokes has fired a warning, saying Archer won't be limited to short bursts. England will hope there's enough juice in the pitch for Archer to exploit.

India, meanwhile, will wait until the morning of the match to finalise their XI. Bumrah, rested at Edgbaston, is set to return. If the pitch retains its green tinge, they might opt for an extra pacer. India could either go with four frontline bowlers and two all-rounders, or four bowlers plus Ravindra Jadeja and an additional batter.

With Prasidh Krishna likely to make way for Bumrah, will India be tempted to hand left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh his debut?

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ENGLAND XI: Ben Stokes (capt), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.

INDIA PREDICTED XI: Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.

ENG vs IND, 3rd TEST PREDICTION

While India look the more confident unit, they can't afford to let their guard down. England, as Ben Stokes has promised, will come hard at them at Lord's. Still, we reckon India could wrap this up inside four days.

- Ends

Published By: Akshay Ramesh Published On: Jul 10, 2025

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