LONDON: An in-form India will continue their quest for just a fourth series win in England when the third Test at Lord’s starts on Thursday.
India levelled this five-match campaign at 1-1 with a 336-run rout of England in last week’s second Test at Edgbaston.
Here are several key talking points ahead of what promises to be a fascinating encounter:
Shubman Gill has enjoyed a stunning start to his reign as India captain, with a remarkable 585 runs in his first two Tests as skipper after replacing the retired Rohit Sharma.
At Edgbaston, thanks to innings of 269 and 161, the admirably composed and elegant Gill became the first batsman in Test cricket to make scores of 250 and 150 in the same match.
So prolific has Gill been, he could now threaten Australia great Donald Bradman’s record of 974 runs in a single Test series, after the 25-year-old also made 147 in India’s five-wicket defeat in the opener at Headingley.
“You’ve got got to give your opposition credit when it’s due and for him to bang out as many runs as he has done in this game has been pretty special,” said England captain Ben Stokes.
One encouraging thought for Stokes, however, as he ponders how to get the better of Gill, is that Bradman’s mark has stood for 95 years.
Many batsmen have made blistering starts, only for the runs to dry up later on.
South Africa’s Graeme Smith started his captaincy reign with back-to-back double hundreds in England, at Edgbaston and Lord’s, in 2003.
Opening batsman Smith, however, managed just 93 more runs in the remaining three Tests of that series.
It has been over four years since fast bowler Jofra Archer last played a Test but the injury-blighted express quick now appears set to return at Lord’s, where in 2019 he marked his debut by felling Australia’s Steve Smith with a fearsome bouncer.
Doubts remain over whether Archer can be the bowler he once was after such a lengthy lay-off.
But England coach Brendon McCullum said: “He’s obviously been through his injuries and his time out of Test cricket, but we all know what he’s capable of achieving and we hope that when the opportunity does arrive for him, he’s able to recapture and improve on what he’s been able to do already.”
Archer at his best would certainly give England a much-needed cutting edge.
Chris Woakes has taken just three wickets at a hugely expensive average of nearly 97 apiece so far this series, despite being given the new ball.
England great Geoffrey Boycott suggested the 36-year-old was now “past his sell-by date” but all-rounder Woakes has a fine record at Lord’s, with 32 wickets in seven Tests at a miserly average of 12.90, as well as a batting average of 42.50.
Akash Deep proved a more than capable stand-in with a 10-wicket haul in Birmingham — a return that will surely see him keep his place— but it is hard to see how India can be anything but stronger with a refreshed Jasprit Bumrah in their side after resting the world’s top-ranked Test bowler at Edgbaston.
“He (Bumrah) jogs in, you will be thinking ‘this will be 70 miles an hour’ and it hits you at 90,” former England paceman Stuart Broad told his ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast.
Overseas players often raise their game at Lord’s and Bumrah is unlikely to be an exception as the 31-year-old fast bowler bids to gain a coveted place on the dressing room honors board for the first time in his career.
