Credit: X
England appeared to be in a decent position on the second day of the Lord’s Test in London as they dismissed three key Indian batters, including the vital wicket of skipper Shubman Gill. Till the end of the second day's play, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant were at the crease scoring 53 and 19 respectively, with India reaching 145/3, still trailing England by 242 runs. They intended to provide a strong partnership which the other batters could not provide. With that intent in mind, Rahul and Pant came out to bat on the third day, the duo appeared cautious in the early stages of the first sesssion before expanding their strokeplay, to share a partnership of 141 runs off 198 deliveries they faced.
During their fourth wicket stand, both these batters were constantly chatting about how the ball reached them after pitching, in what line the bowler was bowling the most. In one such moment, Rishabh Pant was discussing with KL Rahul whether Chris Woakes bowled the delivery on the fifth or sixth stump line. He further asked Rahul if he can leave the delivery as the ball appeared to be slowly going away from him. He ultimately left the ball bowled by Woakes, and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith appeared shocked as Pant left the ball. The conversation between Rishabh and Rahul was captured in the stump mic. The moment was shared in a post on social media platform X by Star Sports platform.
Watch the video here:
Rishabh Pant lost his wicket just minutes before lunch on day three at Lord's
Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul made 103 runs in 22.3 overs in the first session of the third day. After settling on the pitch and playing cautiously, Pant started to attack as soon as spin was introduced in the session. He hit Shoaib Bashir’s first delivery of the session for a six, it was the 88th six of his test career which puts him only two shy of Virender Sehwag who holds the India record (90 sixes).
But, this largely profitable session ended on a sour note for the guests as Pant got run out on a score of 74 by a throw by English skipper Ben Stokes just minutes before the lunch break was to be announced. In the second session, KL Rahul brought up his 10th Test hundred before losing his wicket to Shoaib Bashir, allowing England to have more than a sniff in the contest.
