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After India’s emphatic win against England in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Birmingham, action has now moved to Lord’s, where both teams will look to be at their best to win the game and take a 2-1 lead. England hold an upper hand against India at this venue as they have defeated the visitors 12 times in 19 outings. In the last five matches between both teams at the iconic venue, both teams have emerged victorious two times apiece. The last time, when India took on England at Lord’s in 2021, the former thrashed the home side by 151 runs.
With the expectations of witnessing the mouth-watering contest between both sides, a large crowd has turned up at Lord’s. Among VIPs, ex-India players Sachin Tendulkar and Farokh Engineer were spotted with former United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Australia legend Brett Lee was also seen at the Lord’s hospitality box with former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle. Before the match, Jonny Bairstow was also felicitated by the England Cricket Board (ECB) with a silver cap for completing his 100th Test against India in Dharamsala.
Bairstow, who was a major part of England Test team a couple of years ago, received the distinguished award in the presence of his son, who is only two currently.
Nitish Kumar Reddy delivers early breakthroughs to India in Lord's Test
After winning the toss, England skipper Ben Stokes elected to bat first and his openers failed Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley failed to deliver fine starts to the side. Nitish Kumar Reddy, who came to bowl his first over, hunted the scalps of both openers and helped India pick up two quick wickets.
India will look to get rid of veteran Joe Root, who is the highest run-scorer in Tests at this venue. In 2021, Root played a spectacular innings of an unbeaten 180 against India in the losing occasion. Gill and his men will be wary of the 34-year-old, who is looking to settle at the crease currently.
