Nitish Kumar Reddy couldn’t have asked for a better start on his first match at Lord’s on Thursday. Playing just his second Test match (India’s third against England) on English soil, Reddy, who has impressed in Australia, gave India a breakthrough when he had Ben Duckett edge behind to Rishabh Pant. Three balls later, Reddy had another opener Zak Crawley dismissed in the similar fashion as Duckett.
In the process, Reddy became only the second Indian pacer since the start of 2002 to struck twice in their first overs of the innings in a men’s Test match. Before Reddy, former cricketer Irfan Pathan achieved the same when he took a hattrick in the first over of a Test match against Pakistan in Karachi in 2006.
Otherwise, it has been rather a damp first session for India. Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, who took five-wicket hauls in the second Test, and Jasprit Bumrah failed to make any inroads in the opening hour of the match on Day 1 of the third Test.
England reach 83/2 at lunch on Day 1
The trio of Bumrah, Akash Deep and Siraj did ask a few questions but England opening duo of Ben Duckett (23 off 40) and Zak Crawley (18 off 43) survived the first hour of play, reaching 39 for no loss in 13 overs. At lunch, England were 83/2 in 25 overs.
Due to the unique slope, the Indian bowlers understandably took some time to get used to the up and down nature of the ground while running in. Bumrah bowled from both Pavillion End and Nursery End while Akash Deep, who took a match haul of 10 at Edgbaston, bowled with the new ball from Nursery End.
India vs England 3rd Test playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir
