Courtesy: BCCI/X
At Lord's in London, England are currently taking on India in the third Test of the five-match series for the prestigious Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. On day one, England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first. England lost two wickets early during the day as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were dismissed by the young Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy as both the opening baters were caught by Rishabh Pant. After that, Joe Root and Ollie Pope held firm in the middle against a highly impressive Indian bowling lineup for the entirety of the second session, playing far slower rather than employing England's trademark "Bazball" attacking style.
During the second session, an interaction between Mohammed Siraj and Joe Root caught the eye of everyone. In the midst of the over from Mohammed Siraj, Joe Root tried to cut the ball and missed it to which the Indian fast bowler wittily sledged him saying, “"Baz, Baz, Bazball. Play Bazball. I want to see". Bazball is a term used to describe the attacking and aggressive style of Test cricket which is adopted by the England men’s cricket team under the leadership of coach Brendon McCullum over the past three years.
Mohammed Siraj wanted to provoke Joe Root by telling him to play bazball style of cricket so that Joe Root would potentially lose his temper and start playing aggressively, which may lead to high chances of him losing his wicket.
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India look forward to take some wickets against England in third session on day one
Joe Root is starting to build pressure on the Indian bowlers on day one after managing to survive tough periods in the early stages. Root had already scored his half-century before the tea break, and on the first ball of the third session, Ollie Pope lost his wicket on 44 runs thanks to a beautiful delivery by Ravindra Jadeja with substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel taking a smart catch after replacing injured Rishabh Pant. Nitish Kumar Reddy managed to break the deadlock for his side by clinching two wickets in the first session on day one before India couldn't take any wickets in the second session, but they will be looking to keep up the good start provided by Ravindra Jadeja at the start of the third session.
The Indian pacers have been able to find their rhythm and consistency, but they haven't been able to induce too many wicket-taking mistakes from England batters. However, since it is still day one in Lord's Test, and there is a lot of beautiful cricket yet to come on display as we move further into the match. It will be interesting to see which side emerges victorious in the third Test, with the current series tied at 1-1.
