London: Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer will be seen in action at Lord’s, as England won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test on Thursday.
The five-match series is tantalisingly locked at 1-1, after England’s thrilling five-wicket win at Headingley was followed by India’s emphatic 336-run victory at Edgbaston. This is just the second time England have batted first in Tests since the Stokes-McCullum era began.
After four years of absence from Test cricket due to injuries to back and elbow, Archer will make his long-awaited return to the longer format for England. “Surface is how it usually is, and the sun is out, so we’re going to have a bat. The mood is good, it’s been a well-fought two Test matches so far.”
“We’re pushing to come away from Lord’s 2-1. The body is good and everyone is fresh and ready to go. Everyone loves playing at Lord’s and you just have to take it all in. Quick turnaround so we used the time between games wisely,” said England captain Ben Stokes.
For India, Bumrah is back into the playing eleven in place of Prasidh Krishna, which also means there’s still no room for Kuldeep Yadav. Skipper Shubman Gill said he was a bit confused about what to do and would have probably bowled first.
“If there’s anything in the wicket, it’s going to be on the first few days. I think the contribution from everyone was great; that was what we were aiming for from all of us. The bowlers are feeling confident, it wasn’t easy to take all those wickets on that pitch (at Edgbaston). I feel good when the hard work pays, it’s very satisfying,” he said.
Playing XIs:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, and Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Siraj
(IANS)
