England's experienced batsman, Joe Root, delivered a stellar batting performance on the first day of the third Test match against India at Lord's. Root is just one run away from scoring his 37th Test century.
SPORTS NEWS: The first day of the third Test match between India and England was marked by Joe Root's patient half-century and a slow scoring rate from the English batsmen. England scored 251 runs for the loss of 4 wickets by the end of the day's play. Joe Root returned not out on 99 runs and is now only one run away from his 37th Test century.
England Wins Toss, Opts to Bat First
At the start of the match, England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first. There was one change in England's playing eleven, with fast bowler Jofra Archer returning in place of Josh Tongue. The Indian team also made a change, with Jasprit Bumrah replacing Prasidh Krishna, who did not play in the previous match due to workload management.
Nitish Kumar Reddy Delivers Two Early Successes
Indian bowlers started steadily with the new ball. Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy gave England early setbacks. He first dismissed Ben Duckett (23 runs) and then had Zak Crawley (18 runs) caught behind by Rishabh Pant. When the score was 43/2, Joe Root took charge and built a partnership of 109 runs for the third wicket with Ollie Pope. Indian bowlers could not get any success in the second session.
In the third session, Ravindra Jadeja gave India a big breakthrough when he had Ollie Pope caught by wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. Pope scored 44 runs and missed out on a half-century. After that, Jasprit Bumrah bowled Harry Brook, giving England their fourth setback. Brook could only score 11 runs.
Joe Root's Classic Batting
Joe Root presented a brilliant example of his classic Test batting. He has scored 99 runs off 191 balls so far, with the help of 9 boundaries. Root built useful partnerships, first with Ollie Pope and later with captain Ben Stokes (39 runs not out). However, the England team, known for its 'Bazball' style, was seen batting slowly in this match. On the first day, England scored at a run rate of 3.02, which is quite low compared to recent Test matches. This could be considered the slowest score on the first day in the Bazball era.
Joe Root has now become the first batsman to complete 3000 runs in Tests against India. He also became the 18th batsman in Test history to end the day's play not out on 99 runs. Interestingly, all 17 batsmen before him have completed a century the next day.
