After 15 gruelling sessions and nothing between the two sides, the third Test between England and India at Lord’s concluded in a 22-run photo-finish triumph for the hosts.
The nailbiter – unquestionably the best game of the series so far – was a throwback to the format’s greatest last-day final acts, as well as a reminder of Test cricket’s unrivalled quality.
Brimming with disorder, emotion and exceptional cricket, the third instalment of this contest marked the series’ midpoint, a juncture at which both teams will look to reflect on what has gone, and what is yet to come.
Both England and India have been inseparable this series, but as the dust settles from Lord’s, the scoreline sits at 2-1 in favour of Ben Stokes and his band of merry men.
For India, the consistently high quality of cricket played over 15 days should undoubtedly compel Shubman Gill to imbue his young brigade with a renewed sense of optimism.
A couple of different calls here and there, and India could have been 2-1 up.
For England, despite being far from flawless, the current standing is perhaps a fair representation of the series, if only for England’s ability to clutch the key moments – first at Headingley on day five and again late on days four and five at Lord’s.
With a week to go until it all starts again at Manchester, Cricket Paper writer Mohan Harihar discusses six talking points from the Lord’s Test.
Bazball sits out to allow traditional Test cricket to shine
Bazball batsmanship came under heavy scrutiny in the wake of England’s monumental 336-run loss at Edgbaston.
With Lord’s next on the itinerary, a venue shrouded in the most tradition and sacred norms of the game, all eyes were on England’s batters and whether they could display an old-fashioned humility with the blade.
After openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were dismissed cheaply following a somewhat erratic start, it looked to be a case of déjà vu.
Thankfully, Joe Root and vice-captain Ollie Pope recognised that the situation, and the Lord’s pitch, called for quintessential Test batsmanship.
‘This wasn’t a surface you could come out swinging on’, Pope said.
When the going gets tough for England, there is no one better than Root to lay the platform for the team.
Notching up his 37th Test ton, England’s number four played the way only he can – calm, meticulous, cerebral.
His 104 was his eighth Test ton at Lord’s and 11th against India (equalling Australia’s Steven Smith). Root also became the first player to score 3,000 Test runs against India.
Bazball remained absent for the rest of the first innings, with Root ably supported by Pope (44) and Stokes (44), before Jamie Smith (51) and Brydon Carse (56) serenely took England to 387.
Distilling things down to its essence, England’s scoring rate of 3.44 in the first innings was their second-lowest in a 300-plus total in Tests since June 2022.
While this is not necessarily something to overzealously commend given situational batting is deemed a prerequisite at Test level, the willingness of Bazball to simply stand still, even if for a fleeting moment in their journey, was refreshing to see.
For India, when strong partnerships took root and bowling brilliance was needed, Jasprit Bumrah once again delivered, finishing with 5-74.
In achieving this, Bumrah succeeded Kapil Dev to the most five-fors by an Indian in away Tests (13).
The slow-burn batting permeated all four innings of this Test, positioning this fixture as a legitimate throwback to the classics of the genre and a welcome escape from the helter-skelter of Bazball.
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Lionhearted Stokes leads England in all-round, player-of-the-match display
We are all privy to the magic Ben Stokes can conjure when it is his day.
At Lord’s, we once again witnessed an exhibition of steeliness and ceaseless grit from England’s all-rounder.
Stokes’ all-round efforts as captain, batter and bowler willed England to win key moments across the five days. This, in the end, proved to be the difference between the two sides.
In the first innings he scored 44 runs, followed by two wickets and a momentum-shifting run out of a settled Rishabh Pant in the second innings.
A crucial 33 in a pressurised third innings helped nudge England’s lead to something of substance. Finally in the fourth innings, he picked up three wickets, including the centurion from India’s first innings, KL Rahul.
On the last day with it all on the line, Stokes bowled 19.2 overs (first a 9.2-over spell and then a 10-over spell), defying all logic and advice from those concerned about his injury-prone and already-weary body.
He stated: ‘I’ve taken myself to some pretty dark places, but if bowling your country to a Test-match win doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what does.
‘Nothing was stopping me.’
The skipper’s player-of-the-match award was his 11th in 114 matches, only behind Sir Ian Botham (12 in 102 matches) and Joe Root (13 in 156 matches) for England in Tests.
Stokes is not the consistent constructor of great innings he perhaps was a decade ago. Innings like his 135* at Headingley in 2019 or his blistering 258 at Cape Town in 2016 seldom surfaces these days.
However, the Stokes of 2025 offers much more than that.
It is his presence, conviction, self-belief and tenacity – a constellation of cricket’s intangible qualities – that drag this side over the finish line.
Lord’s was yet another entry in Stoke’s anthology of steadfast performances in an England shirt.
Pant’s run out the turning point for India
Runs have flowed off Rishabh Pant’s bat since arriving on English shores.
With twin tons at Headingley and a 65 at Edgbaston, all scored in a blink-and-miss-it fashion, Pant remains India’s game changer in the middle order.
In India’s first innings at Lord’s, Rahul and Pant had put on 141 runs as lunch approached on day three.
Rahul started the last over before lunch on 97, looking eager to reach his hundred before the break.
Surprisingly, India’s vice-captain appeared particularly keen to help his team-mate out.
What ensued was a poorly-judged run as Pant pushed the ball to Stokes at cover who athletically threw down the stumps to dismiss India’s keeper for 74.
Before this, India were cruising with wicket-taking opportunities few and far between for England.
From 248-3 and looking set to bat well beyond England’s first-innings total, India fell away to eventually only draw level with the hosts.
Did the lure of a personal milestone take Rahul’s and Pant’s eyes off the real prize? It certainly seemed so.
Even if it did not, it destabilised India’s reply as Rahul fell immediately after getting a solitary run, and his milestone, after lunch.
The situation mirrored the dilemma Root and Stokes faced at the end of day one, with Root left stranded overnight on 99 as Stokes opted to block out the remainder of the final over.
Having lost the opportunity to build a healthy first-innings lead on a pitch that was beginning to show signs of uneven bounce and sideways movement, England received a ‘get out of jail free’ card from India.
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No more ‘Mr Nice Guys’
After a tame first two Tests from two sides not shy of complimenting one another, the niceties finally gave way to needle.
Kicking off with an explosive last over on day three, Crawley looked to take time out of the game by pulling away as Bumrah ran in, understandably aggravating the Indian team.
England’s opener was then struck on the glove before calling the physio on – the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as Gill was concerned.
What followed was an expletive-laden exchange between Crawley and Gill, with support ringside for each coming in the form of Duckett and Rahul, respectively.
The tension in the match, and possibly even the series, had gone from zero to 100 in a blink of an eye. The scenes, chock-full of finger-pointing and crude gestures, were equally unbecoming as they were captivating to consume.
This set the stage for an explosive day four.
Mohammad Siraj’s send off to Duckett saw him fined 15% of his match fee and given one demerit point; Reddy too got in on the action, making sure Crawley was aware of who got him out.
And if day four was India’s chance to let their vexation be known, day five was England’s turn to return the favour.
Stokes’ said: ‘When you’re watching your two opening batters go out there for an over, and you’re seeing 11 guys all come at [them], that’s going to bring out another side.’
Throughout day five, Archer, Carse and Stokes were all noticeably demonstrative.
Even coach Brendon McCullum was spoiling for a rumble as he was captured egging his side on from the balcony to ramp up the decibels as Washington Sundar came in to bat.
Archer, whose laid-back demeanour rarely sees him caught up in scuffles, even stated: ‘We all came together as a group, and said, ‘we’re a bit too nice’.
‘When we go to other places, some teams aren’t as nice to us as we are to them. I guess we just tried to shift it.’
Meanwhile India’s captain Gill opined: ‘When you’re in the heat of the moment there’s so many emotions involved.
‘Both teams are competitive and you’re playing to win. There are going to be moments where there is going to be a bit of heat.’
Come Manchester, fans will be itching to see if the spiciness of Lord’s has traversed the country to make it up north.
Jadeja’s lone-wolf act brings India agonisingly close
Where England have Stokes as their all-round asset, India have Ravindra Jadeja.
At Lord’s, India’s left-arm spinning all-rounder came within a whisker of pulling off the heist of his career with the bat.
India’s back was against the wall after England burst out of the traps in the final session of day four, blowing away India’s top order – and nightwatchman Akash Deep – to leave the visitors 58-4.
The hosts continued the rampage on day five, skittling Rahul, Pant and Sundar in rapid-fire fashion. At 82-7, Sundar’s words the night before – ‘India will win, probably just after lunch’ – had come back to haunt the team.
This left Jadeja to weather a particularly violent storm before charting his own course for victory.
Jadeja’s resistance had shades of Stokes’ heroics at Headingley in 2019: a last-man-standing narrative in which the protagonist is cursed with the burden of seeking an inconceivable glory while sheltering ill-equipped allies.
Nudging and nurdling the ball around, he set about craftily chipping away at the target of 193. Supported by Bumrah (5 off 54), Jadeja looked to be, at a snail’s pace, doing the unthinkable.
India’s gargantuan fightback eventually stumbled as Siraj (4 off 30) defended Bashir with the softest of hands only for the ball, tauntingly, to trickle back onto the stumps.
Jadeja’s marathon effort as India’s lone wolf epitomised the mettle India has shown all series.
His batting, which has fallen under the radar amidst the flamboyance of Pant and the grace of Gill and Rahul, now has four consecutive 50s on this tour (89, 69*, 72 and 61*) and is proving to be a thorn in England’s side.
Questions have been raised as to the approach he took and whether he could have played the aggressor. But in his own calm way, he very nearly pulled off the impossible.
The final shots of the match were reminiscent of Edgbaston 2005. Much like Flintoff crouched beside a despondent Brett Lee, Root, Crawley and Brook offered heartfelt condolences to a distressed Siraj.
Competitors who were baying for the blood of their rivals were now offering salve for the fresh wounds inflicted upon defeat.
And Stokes and Jadeja, two of the best all-rounders of this generation, shared a warrior’s embrace.
It was a poignant reminder of why Test cricket is the greatest game: skill, theatre, substance and a microcosm of life.
Archer breathes fire again after four-year hiatus
The biggest talking point for England ahead of the Lord’s Test was the return of Jofra Archer.
Following a litany of injuries after his last Test in February 2021 against the same opposition, as well as five surgeries in four years, all eyes were on the fast bowler.
His return exceeded all expectations.
Champing at the bit, he went on to bowl the fastest Test spells of his career to-date – even faster than those in 2019 where he felled Steven Smith – averaging 89.78mph on day two and 90.28mph on day three.
In all, he bowled 41 balls in excess of 90mph.
Archer finished with match figures of 5-107 from 39.2 overs, showing signs of all the endearing qualities we came to love in his breakout year.
How Archer is managed moving forward, along with how he backs up his performance at Lord’s, will be critical.
We are right to place high expectations on Archer, but not to be cruel, callous or unfair.
Rather, it is because of the sheer heights he can reach at his best – heights no other England bowler can reach.
Archer’s reintegration into Test cricket may consist of baby steps, but in this Bazball environment, he may equally be thrust into the heat of battle at every given opportunity
He certainly hopes so, saying: ‘I can play the other two if they let me. I don’t want to lose this series.
‘I said I wanted to play the Test summer and I want to play the Ashes. One tick is there and I will do everything in my power to be on the plane to Australia.’
Whatever the future holds and however tentatively England handle him, for now, it is simply a joy to observe one of cricket’s best talents back doing what he loves.
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