Wider lines, quieter battles: the waiting games at Lord’s

Wider lines, quieter battles: the waiting games at Lord's

It took India just four deliveries to sense that their Edgbaston strategy might not work at Lord's. Jasprit Bumrah found the edge in his first over, but didn't claim a wicket until the final session. The ace fast bowler was already gesturing to the slip cordon to come forward, as edges wouldn't carry today.

England's Ben Stokes won the toss on a sun-baked surface and chose to bat first, a rare decision. But India decided to take the tempo out of the game, bowling with a quiet focus and squeezing the batters. The result was an unusual session, with India taking no wickets but restricting England to just 70 runs from Root and Pope.

India's plan was to turn the day old-fashioned, designing each ball to be an act of anti-Bazball. And England's batters chose not to turn it into an ego contest, waiting instead. Traditionally, Test cricket in England is an off-side sport, but India flipped the script, bowling wider and packing the leg-side with catching mid-wickets.

The ball did swing more at Lord's, but with the pitch slow and bounce low, England's batters had time to adjust. India kept pushing them wider, with Shubman Gill settling on sixth-stump lines and a 6-3 off-side field. CricViz marked 25.7% of India's seamers' balls as being outside the off-stump channel, up from 15.6% at Headingley and 11.8% at Edgbaston.

India's seamers, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, bowled slightly straighter lines, but still managed to keep England muzzled. Nitish Reddy, playing just his second Test in England, didn't chase a highlight moment, instead finding swing and trading it for patience. The result was a unique day, with India taking just four wickets but holding England to their second-lowest scoring rate in a day's play of the Bazball era.