ENG vs IND, 3rd Test: Bumrah, Archer return to dismantle furniture at Home of Cricket

A bright and sunny Lord’s welcomed the Indian team as it trained for one final time before the third Test, beginning on Thursday.

As has been the practice, head coach Gautam Gambhir took a close look at the pitch, along with captain Shubman Gill, before the duo had a quick chat with the curators. And for the next couple of hours, Gill, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul had long sessions where Deepak Chahar, who is in England on a rehabilitation programme, bowled to them under the watchful eyes of Gambhir and Morne Morkel, the bowling coach.

Coming on the back of a rather one-sided win in Birmingham, the in-form Indian batters now need to back themselves on a potentially challenging surface, where the fast bowlers could make their presence felt.

England has named Jofra Archer in its final eleven after four and a half years, and Jasprit Bumrah is set to replace Prasidh Krishna in India’s line-up. The last time the two teams squared off at the historic venue, back in 2021, India managed a convincing victory, and this time, too, the focus will be to build on the success of the second Test and gain a lead in the five-match series.

The historic victory at Edgbaston has boosted the team’s confidence, and according to vice-captain Pant, clear communication between the captain and the players helped the team bounce back after the defeat in Leeds. “When you have a good camaraderie off the field, it eventually shows on the field, and that is exactly what happened… Hopefully, we can do the same thing with the whole team going forward,” Pant said.

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India’s approach of piling on the runs in the last game has forced England to move from its original template of preparing flat tracks and batting the opposition out of the game. No wonder, ahead of what could be a series-defining fixture, the home team is now set to dish out a surface offering a fair amount of seam movement. Add to that, one could expect a rather unique challenge of a slope along the pitch.

However, India doesn’t seem perturbed. So far, it has managed to tick all the boxes—barring Karun Nair, the batting unit has been among the runs, with captain Gill leading from the front, along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. While on the bowling side of things, Bumrah’s return further bolsters the pace line-up, which already features the in-form Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, who had a magical outing in Birmingham.

However, on the eve of the game, India continued playing the mind games with England as Pant said that a decision on the bowling combination will be taken closer to the game.

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Even though Archer is returning from a string of injury setbacks, England won’t be restricting him to bowling in shorter bursts. The pacer was originally included in the squad for the Edgbaston Test, but eventually didn’t make the playing eleven as he was still working his way back to full fitness. Archer has had memorable moments at Lord’s, as it is here that he delivered the World Cup-winning Super Over in 2019 and returned later that summer to produce an electrifying Test debut against Australia.

Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes need to back the Barbados-born Archer. The duo had combined to bowl 75 overs at Edgbaston, but could only account for four wickets as a pair.

The home team’s top- and middle-order batters have lacked consistency, and it’s time for Ben Stokes and the seasoned Joe Root to step up and play some innings of impact in a bid to keep England in the hunt.