LONDON: Joe Root’s unbeaten 99 checked India’s progress on Thursday’s opening day of the third Test against England at Lord’s.

England were 251-4 at stumps, with Root coming in when they were faltering at 44-2 after paceman Nitish Kumar Reddy struck twice in his first over to remove openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley.

But not for the first time in his 156 Test-career, the 34-year-old Root bailed England out of trouble.

England captain Ben Stokes, who won the toss at a sun-drenched Lord’s, was 39 not out after helping Root, his predecessor as skipper, add an unbroken 79 for the fifth wicket.

Root also shared a grinding partnership of 109 in 35 overs with Ollie Pope, who made 44 after almost being out for a golden duck.

Much of the pre-match talk had focused on the return of Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top-ranked Test bowler, after he was rested for India’s 336-run thrashing of England at Edgbaston last week that levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

But it was Reddy, the fourth seamer deployed by India captain Shubman Gill on Thursday, who struck twice in four balls on the way to figures of 2-46 in 14 overs.

With his third ball, the 22-year-old had left-hander Duckett (23) well caught down the legside by diving wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant off a gloved pull.

On the last ball of the over, Reddy produced a superb full-length delivery that swung late and straightened off the pitch before taking Crawley’s outside edge to give Pant a simple catch as the Kent batsman fell for 18.

Root was far more assured as he went to fifty with a glance through fine leg off Reddy — his seventh four in 102 balls faced.

England were 153-2 at tea with Root unbeaten on 54 and Pope 44 not out.

But the very first ball after the interval saw Pope drive loosely at left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, with reserve wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel, on the field after Pant suffered a finger injury in the second session, holding an excellent shoulder-high catch off a fast-travelling edge.

New batsman Brook only managed 11 before he was bowled between bat and pad by Bumrah after failing to get forward to a nip-back ball. Bumrah ended the day with a miserly return of 1-35 in 18 overs.

England were now 172-4 as Stokes, without a Test hundred since an Ashes century against Australia at Lord’s two years ago, walked out to bat.

The left-hander had made 27 when Reddy had a tight lbw review turned down on umpire’s call. He then called for the England physio after suffering what appeared to be a groin injury.

Root, however, continued to bat with his customary class, an on-driven four off Reddy taking the former England captain to 80.

But with play held up by a swarm of flying ants, and Stokes unable to get off strike as he defended Akash Deep’s final two balls of the day, Root was left one run shy of what would be his 37th Test hundred and a record-extending eighth century at Lord’s.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

Z. Crawley c Pant b Reddy 18

B. Duckett c Pant b Reddy 23

O. Pope c sub b Jadeja 44

J. Root not out 99

H. Brook b Bumrah 11

B. Stokes not out 39

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-11, NB-2) 17

TOTAL (for four wickets, 83 overs) 251

STILL TO BAT: J. Smith, C. Woakes, J. Archer, B. Carse, S. Bashir

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-43 (Duckett), 2-44 (Crawley), 3-153 (Pope), 4-172 (Brook)

BOWLING: Bumrah 18-3-35-1; Deep 17-2-75-0 (1nb); Siraj 14-5-33-0; Reddy 14-0-46-2; Jadeja 10-1-26-1 (1nb); Sundar 10-1-21-0

INDIA: Y. Jaiswal, KL Rahul, K. Nair, S. Gill, R. Pant, N.K. Reddy, R. Jadeja, W. Sundar, A. Deep, M. Siraj, J. Bumrah

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2025