Key events
Washington Sundar’s verdict
[Where’s the game at?] Definitely India winning, probably just after lunch!
Being one down at stumps would have been ideal. But the way we bowled, and the pressure the fast bowlers maintained, was amazing.
We expected some seam movement and up-and-down bounce with the hard ball. Akash Deep’s spell to get Brook out, when he was looking really aggressive, [was vital].
When the fast bowlers get tired it’s our turn! The way Jadeja and I bowled was very heartening. The plan was not concede many runs so the way it went for us was very good.
The UK has been very, very kind to me with the drft – I don’t get as much in subcontinent conditions.
It’s easy to think Akash Deep’s wicket doesn’t really count, he was going to get out anyway, but nightwatchmen can be a pain in the rump in fourth-innings runchases. Australia’s stunning victory at Edgbaston in 2023 was partly because of Scott Boland’s long-forgotten 20 on the final morning.
In this game, England will be able to attack Rishabh Pant from ball one.
Stumps: India need another 135 runs to win
England are roared into the Long Room by the members. Imagine what the atmosphere will be like at 11am tomorrow; Lord’s is already sold out.
A last word for KL Rahul – he was dropped on 5 by Chris Woakes, it’s true, but the way he played in the last hour, when England were all over the batters and Lord’s was at boiling point, was exemplary. Remarkable player.
WICKET! India 57-4 (Deep b Stokes 1)
Mayhem at one end, KL Rahul at the other. He calmly works Stokes’ first ball for a single, which means he’ll be back in the morning.
Akash Deep won’t! Stokes sends his off stump for a walk with a beautiful delivery that pitches on off stump and straightens. A fittingly dramatic end to a sensational day of Test cricket.
17th over: India 57-3 (Rahul 32, Deep 1) Carse gives Akash Deep a mouthful, then Stokes and KL Rahul have words. Carse’s last ball of the day vrooms past Deep’s outside edge; he went up for caught behind but nobody else was interested.
If England do win this game, history will highlight that spell of 4-1-11-2 from Brydon Carse. When he came on Lord’s was flat; now it’s feral.
Deep is not out! It was indeed umpire’s call. The ball was hitting a fair bit of the leg bail, and there are some boos from the Lord’s crowd, but England have benefitted from similar decisions in this series.
Actually, I think the boos are because Akash Deep is receiving treatment after being hit on the thigh by that delivery. Still three balls left in the over; England should have time for another.
England review for LBW against Deep
Carse pleads for another LBW when Deep is hit on the pad by a full. It was missing leg and England don’t waste time discussing a review.
He has a better appeal turned down two balls later – and this time Stokes asks for the review. Umpire’s call at best for India I think.
16th over: India 57-3 (Rahul 32, Deep 1) Rahul works Stokes off the hips and scampers back for two. Stokes is jogging back to his mark to get as many overs in as possible tonight.
Deep is given the last two balls to survive. He does so and takes a single off the last ball to keep the strike. Not sure KL Rahul appreciates or needs a nightwatchman, but there you are. England seem keener to bowl to Deep; if they dismiss him India will have a dilemma as to who comes in next.
15th over: India 53-3 (Rahul 29, Deep 0) Akash Deep comes out as nightwatchman. While he finishes putting his pads on out in the middle, Joe Root conducts the Lord’s crowd.
Gill is out! It was a terrific delivery from Carse, a good-length nipbacker that hit Gill on the pad in front of off stump as he tried and failed to get his bat down.
The technology shows that the ball hit Gill in line and would have gone on to hit the top of stumps. Brilliant bowling from Carse, a mighty addition to the England Test team in the last year.
WICKET! India 51-3 (Gill LBW b Carse 6)
Shubman Gill reviews again – but his body language suggests he doesn’t fancy his chances this time. Only height can save him.
Gill is not out!
Shubman Gill knew he hadn’t hit the ball. In fact this is a rare shocker from Paul Reiffel. Gill tried to drive another very full delivery from Carse, missed and was caught by Jamie Smith. Replays showed daylight between bat and ball.
Gill given out but reviews immediately!
Oh, the tension.
14th over: India 47-2 (Rahul 29, Gill 2) Stokes boots the bowling crease angrily in anger after starting with a four-ball on the hips of KL Rahul. The rest of the over is spot on – five dot balls in a row including one delivery that bursts past Rahul’s attempted cut.
Time for four or five more overs tonight.
13th over: India 43-2 (Rahul 25, Gill 2) With everyone expecting a short ball first up, Carse starts with a yorker length outswinger that beats Gill. England’s fielders are flapping their gums incessantly, an inevitable and compelling response to last night’s contretemps.
Gill, beaten again second ball, leans into a pristine extra cover drive to get off the mark. Those two runs mean he has broken Rahul Dravid’s record for most runs in a series by an Indian batter in England: 603 runs and counting.
A misfield from Stokes in the covers gave Rahul a single. It was a blessing in disguise: two balls later Karun Nair offered no stroke to a straight one from Carse and was palpably LBW. No hesitation from the umpire, no review from Nair – he knew it was a fatal misjudgement.
With half an hour to play, Shubman Gill walks out to a lively reception. What goes around comes around. The next 30 minutes could be spectacular.
WICKET! India 41-2 (Nair LBW b Carse 14)
Ben Stokes is so good that even his misfields can lead to a wicket.
12th over: India 40-1 (Rahul 24, Nair 14) Another accurate over from Stokes, who is whacking the pitch and making the batters play at as many deliveries as possible. One run from it.
“A five-day match doesn’t hinge on a single moment but man, that Woakes drop feels defining for several reasons,” says Max Williams. “Reckon there’s any way back for Ollie Robsinson or has that ship sailed?”
Sadly, I think it has sailed. He’s got 86 wickets at 22.92, and he had fitness issues in maybe a quarter of those games. Grrrrrrrrr.
11th over: India 39-1 (Rahul 23, Nair 14) Woakes gives way to Brydon Carse, whose first over includes four singles and a cracking yorker that is defended expertly by Rahul. He has been a problem for England throughout the series; he’s becoming an even bigger one in this run-chase. If India are still one down at the close they will be heavy favourites.
Drinks: India need 158 more runs to win
10th over: India 35-1 (Rahul 21, Nair 12) Stokes comes on for archer, whose new-ball spell of 4-0-18-1 wasn’t the best. His first delivery is a no-ball; his first legal delivery is thick edged for four by Rahul.
You feel England need at least one more wicket tonight – and that Stokes is most likely to provide it. He starts to pummel a hard length and beats Rahul with a vicious seaming lifter. Time for drinks.
9th over: India 30-1 (Rahul 17, Nair 12) Karun Nair has started well; he looks solid in defence and certain in his shot selection.
Ben Stokes is getting loose so he should be bowling soon. Match situations like this were invited for him.
“When I look back to that 2018 Indian tour, I think about how Sam Curran was England’s player of the series, and how Kohli said he was the difference between the two teams,” says Matt Emerson. “His Test career never really kicked on after that, did it?”
That’s an understatement. From memory he batted very well on the Total Cricket tour of Sri Lanka the same year and also played an important with the ball in South Africa just before Covid. It’s a complicated case: lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. He’s got the competitive instinct of a Bazballer but not the skill set; it’s hard to see getting a game under this regime unless he becomes a regular top six batter.
8th over: India 28-1 (Rahul 17, Nair 10) Archer continues – and starts with another very full ball that Nair pushes into the off side. The ball isn’t swinging so Archer’s plan isn’t clear.
When he hits a good length, with the occasional short delivery, he looks a much bigger threat. Just one run from the over.
7th over: India 27-1 (Rahul 17, Nair 9) Archer usually prefers the Pavilion End at Lord’s, which is where Woakes is bowling. That’s because the ball bounced viciously this morning when Bumrah was at the Nursery End so England want Archer to have a similar impact. But perhaps they are getting too cute; by all accounts it’s not easy to change ends at Lord’s given the impact of the slope. You could bowl Carse from the Nursery End, then bring Archer back when Woakes finishes his spell.
Nair leans into a cover drive off Woakes that is excellently stopped by the diving Pope; that surely saved three runs.
6th over: India 26-1 (Rahul 17, Nair 8) A poor ball from Archer, way too full, is driven handsomely through the covers by Nair for India’s third boundary in four balls. Although he took a key early wicket, Archer has been quite poor in this spell – his length has been far too full.
It happens again later in the over when a half-volley is timed beautifully to the cover boundary by Rahul. Archer signals to Stokes that he wants a cover sweeper; Stokes declines.
5th over: India 17-1 (Rahul 13, Nair 4) The plot thickens: Woakes has dropped Rahul off his own bowling! Rahul clothed an outswinger back towards Woakes, who reached to his left in his follow through but couldn’t hang on. Woakes is such a good fielder and there was a gasp of surprise when he put it down.
Rahul adds to Woakes’s pain by hitting the next two balls through point for four, one of each foot. If the first, played off the back foot, was elegant, the second was struck with sadistic intent. India need another 176 runs to win.
4th over: India 9-1 (Rahul 5, Nair 4) A full inswinger from Archer is timed nicely through mid-on for two by Nair. Not sure that’s the length to bowl to him.
That’s the length. Nair ducks into a short ball that thumps him just below the left shoulder. The follow-up ball doesn’t come out right and turns into a full toss that is forced through mid-off for two more. Terrific cricket.
3rd over: India 5-1 (Rahul 5, Nair 0) Rahul pads up to an inducker from Woakes that misses the off stump by a micrometre. That was close. Closer than close, but this is no time for Rosie Gaines lyrics.
England are all over India with the new ball. Woakes has a big LBW appeal turned down against Rahul; it didn’t have much going for it, in truth, but you can understand why England got carried away. This is tense!
“Was there any point in making our No11 bat, especially when we will be relying on him to spin the Indians out soon?” asks Rob Lewis. “Shouldn’t his hand have been protected from further damage?”
If it was his bowling hand then maybe, but it’s his left hand so I’m not sure it makes much difference. And those seven runs he added with Jofra Archer could be the difference between rotten eggs and a knighthood.
Okay I’m getting carried away. But this is tense!
2nd over: India 5-1 (Rahul 5, Nair 0) Jaiswal was on strike because KL Rahul had clipped four off the pads and then pulled a single.
Kumar Sangakkara, commentating on Sky, says Jaiswal’s concentration didn’t look right throughout his short innings. His dismissal came from a particularly ill-judged stroke, a hook at a ball that was too high, too wide – and the first delivery he’d faced from Archer in the innings.
WICKET! India 5-1 (Jaiswal c Smith b Archer 0)
Jofra Archer strikes fourth ball! Yashasvi Jaiswal played a horrible hook that went miles in the air and was calmly caught by Jamie Smith. That was the first ball he faced from Archer in this innings, which makes their burgeoning head-to-head record a little one-sided: four balls, two wickets, no runs.
1st over: India 0-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) Woakes goes straight around the wicket to Jaiswal, beating him with successive deliveries just outside off stump. Lovely line.
The fourth ball, left by Jaiswal, bounces twice before reaching Smith. An excellent start from Woakes, whose first over on Friday was panelled for 13 by Jaiswal.
“Talking of (un)true newspaper headlines,” says Simon McMahon it’s often reported that, upon the sinking of the Titanic, the front page of the Dundee Courier – or the Press & Journal in Aberdeen, neither renowned as internationalist in outlook – carried the headline ‘North East Man Lost at Sea’.
“A bit like saying ‘Leach Defies Australia to Guide England Home’ after Headingley 2019.
Chris Woakes will start from the Pavilion End. If this goes badly, he could feasibly be playing his last Test.
The WinViz verdict
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India 76 per cent
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England 24 per cent
My instinct, largely worthless, is that England’s chances of victory are closer to 35-40 per cent. We’ll soon find out.
There will be time for around 18 overs tonight. Here’s the deal. If England are to win this game, they have to take wickets plural in that time.
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