Tea score: England 153-2 (Root 54, Pope 44; Reddy 2-35) v India
Joe Root and Ollie Pope took the long route through the afternoon sunshine, guiding England to a calm 153 for 2 by the tea interval at Lord’s. Their unbroken third-wicket stand is worth 108, built on patience rather than the rapid scoring usually linked to this England side.
On-field microphones caught Mohammed Siraj urging Root to show some “Bazball”, yet the pair were content to leave anything wide of off stump. India’s seamers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, responded with a blanket of deliveries angled across the right-handers, hoping for a mistake that never materialised.
Root’s half-century – his 103rd in Tests – also carried him beyond 3,000 runs against India, a milestone previously reached by no English batter. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting have passed fifty more often in the format. While Bumrah tested him with a hostile five-over burst straight after lunch, Root faced just two balls in that spell, quietly rotating the strike and punishing the occasional overpitched offering from debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Reddy had earlier made the morning his own, removing both openers in his first over after Ben Stokes opted to bat. The ball soon lost its lacquer, though, and Gill persuaded the umpires to replace it after 43 overs, to little effect.
India’s greater worry concerns Rishabh Pant, who jarred his index finger collecting a leg-side delivery from Bumrah. The wicketkeeper received on-field treatment, tried five more balls, then trudged off for further assessment. Dhruv Jurel deputised capably, but Pant’s fitness could influence the rest of the match.
The session’s tempo was deliberate, almost old-fashioned. England will be satisfied with wickets in hand; India, still disciplined, know a second-new-ball burst is not far away. The contest, if short of fireworks, remains finely balanced – a reminder that Test cricket allows for many gears, and that sometimes the slow burn proves most compelling.
