Ben Stokes won a third straight toss but, for once, pointed his side towards the batting crease. With Lord’s basking in bright sunshine and the mercury heading past 30°C, the England captain felt conditions were “too good to ignore”. It is only the third time he has batted first in a home Test; the previous two ended in defeat, a fact he acknowledged with a shrug rather than alarm.
Both camps made one forced alteration from Edgbaston. Jofra Archer, fit again after a precautionary rest, replaced the unlucky Josh Tongue. India recalled Jasprit Bumrah – their spearhead missed Birmingham with a side niggle – and pushed Prasidh Krishna to the bench. The remainder of each XI stayed intact, a show of faith in players who have traded blows through a finely poised series, currently level at 1-1.
Stokes’s opposite number, Shubman Gill, admitted the toss left him “a bit confused”. “I think I would have bowled first,” he told Ravi Shastri. “I came in yesterday, and the wicket had a bit of green in it. If there’s anything in the wicket, it’s on the first day and in the first session.” Gill’s own form reads 147, 8, 269 and 161 – a spread that hints at both brilliance and vulnerability – yet he spoke calmly about “sticking to routines” ahead of his maiden Test innings at Lord’s. He did play here once for Glamorgan, but a county cameo differs from the glare of a full house and that famous slope.
Stokes, for his part, highlighted the mood in the home dressing-room: “It’s been a very well-fought two matches… We’re pushing towards coming away from Lord’s at 2-1. The bodies are all good. Everyone likes playing at Lord’s. It’s one of those weeks where you’ve got to enjoy it as much as you can.” The captain’s words echoed a broader sense that this England side, even after a bruising draw at Edgbaston, remain committed to attack-first cricket.
India vice-captain Rishabh Pant praised his bowlers for holding firm in Bumrah’s absence last week and voiced a small complaint about the Dukes ball, which he felt “goes soft and out of shape too quickly”. With Bumrah restored, the visitors believe they possess the cutting edge to exploit any early assistance before the surface flattens.
The pitch looked straw-coloured by the time the toss concluded, yet groundsman Karl McDermott left a visible tinge of grass. The Lord’s slope, running from the Pavilion to the Nursery End, invariably keeps seamers interested, though it can make line-and-length a challenge for newcomers. Archer, returning at the ground where he burst onto the Test scene in 2019, will know precisely how to use it.
Teams
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.
First ball is due at 11 am; the forecast suggests uninterrupted play. Lord’s will, as ever, provide its own narrative, but the opening decision already feels significant.
