Tea, Day Three, Lord’s – India 316-5 (Jadeja 40, Reddy 25, Archer 1-45) trail England 387 by 71 runs
KL Rahul’s hundred should have set India up for a substantial reply, yet a single fumble just before lunch opened the door for England. Rishabh Pant was run-out trying to give Rahul the strike on 99; 11 balls after the interval Rahul fell for exactly 100. From 248-3 India slipped to 254-5, only for Ravindra Jadeja and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy to close the session with a careful, occasionally frantic, fifty stand.
“It was one mis-call, really,” Rahul admitted. “Those things hurt at Lord’s because the balcony feels miles away when you’re walking back.”
Pant, batting through a bruised left hand, had earlier scampered singles, reverse-scooped Mark Wood and deposited Shoaib Bashir over long-on first ball. His dismissal, a direct hit from Ben Stokes, drew a roar that was part relief, part frustration. “I knew the throw was on at the bowler’s end,” Stokes said. “You back yourself and hope the ball sticks.”
Rahul’s own demise arrived courtesy of Bashir, who drifted one that straightened enough to kiss the edge. Bashir immediately grabbed at a finger – the same digit later took the full force of a Jadeja drive and forced him from the field for treatment, limiting spin options as the second new ball approached.
By then Stokes had turned to Jofra Archer. Four overs, all above 90 mph, rattled both batters and spectators. Archer kept coming: a second burst arrived barely 30 minutes later once the new ball was in hand. This time the lines wandered and Jadeja in particular was happy to let 11 of 24 deliveries sail by.
“It felt like the sort of spell that breaks games,” former England opener Michael Atherton said on television. “Credit to Jadeja and Reddy – they didn’t bite.”
The partnership was hardly smooth. Twice Jadeja called for a sharp single during Archer’s lbw shouts; twice Reddy set off late and survived. Reddy, on nought, edged Wood a whisker wide of Joe Root at slip, then wore a short ball flush on the helmet grille. The 21-year-old simply nodded, changed the lid and scratched away for his first 25 Test runs. “He’s a tough lad,” batting coach Vikram Rathour noted. “You don’t earn an IPL contract at 18 if you’re scared of the short ball.”
In spite of the wobble India still own eight hundreds on this tour, a new away-series record for them. Rahul’s two in three Tests underpin that tally. He spoke this week of “letting go of the outcome and just batting,” a line that echoes his work with mental-skills coach Paddy Upton. The method looks sound: watchful defence, crisp punches square of the wicket, and soft hands against the wobble.
England, though, will feel the new ball remains their route back. With Bashir nursing the finger, Stokes may rely heavily on Archer and Wood tonight, plus his own cutters if the clouds hang around. A first-innings lead in excess of 50 still matters on this surface; anything less drags the contest level.
Jadeja resumes on 40, content to leave, dab and flick. The left-hander rarely starts innings at Lord’s quietly – there were the trademark sword-swishes after a back-foot punch off Chris Woakes – but he knows India cannot afford another lapse. Reddy’s brief is simpler: hang around and learn.
“It’s Lord’s, mate,” Jadeja told the youngster during one change-over, stump mic catching the grin. “Soak it in – then we score.”
Both sides, then, remain in touch. England’s attack has found its bite yet owns only five wickets; India’s middle order has absorbed the hit but still owes the dressing-room a substantial lead. The next hour, under thickening skies, will decide which mood dominates the famous old pavilion at stumps.
