Credit: Google/X
In the third Test between England and India at the conic Lord’s in London, the former side didn’t get a fine start from their openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley. Both players looked ineffective and departed early after falling against Nitish Kumar Reddy. Duckett became Reddy’s first victim and after three deliveries, the medium pacer got Crawley at the hands of wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant. After the departure of both openers, Ollie Pope and Joe Root came at the crease and they stabilised the innings. However, instead of playing in the "Bazball" style of attacking the bowlers, they have adopted the traditional Test batting technique of grinding out the runs.
Ollie Pope, who is known for batting briskly, has consumed more than 90 deliveries in the match. Noting England’s batting, an X user named Madhur Kapoor wrote, “Need the Edgbaston crowd at the Lords right now to sing. BORING BORING BORING ENGLAND BATTING. BAZBALL needs some inspiration from YASHBALL or PANTBALL. BTW TIME FOR SPIN - 40 overs old ball, Washi & Jaddu should be brought in now!!”
Indian captain Shubman Gill also got into the act by saying, "Welcome to boring Test cricket", following the measured approach from England batters in the first two session on day one of the third Test at Lord's in London.
Below are some of the post on X after England's slow run rate in first two sessions on day one of Lord's Test vs India:
England reached their 150 after 47 overs at Lord's in London
England have completed their 150 runs after batting for more than 47 overs, which is quite slow to their current standards of "Bazball". Joe Root notched up his second fifty in the series. As of this writing, England are 151/2 in 48 overs, with Root (unbeaten 53 off 107) and Pope (unbeaten 43 off 99) at the crease. Reddy is the only bowler who has picked up wickets in the game so far.
India will want their premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah to step up and deliver a breakthrough. The speedster, who is playing his second match in the series, has bowled 13 overs in the game thus far.
