Tougher batting test awaits in-form India against unsettled England in 3rd Test

London: The in-form Indian batters will back themselves to succeed on a potentially challenging surface while the bowling attack, which did not inspire confidence in the first game, will pose a tougher test to an unsettled England with the return of Jasprit Bumrah at the Lord’s Test beginning on Thursday.

With the series nicely poised at 1-1 going into the third Test, the narrative built around both the teams has changed significantly following India’s 336-run routing of England at Edgbaston.

If it wasn’t for the dropped catches and lower-order collapses at Leeds, India would have been 2-0 up in the five-match series.

Considering the inexperience of the Indian squad under new captain Shubman Gill, the team has not only competed but has won majority of the sessions over the course of the two Tests.

England, on the other hand, were expected to steamroll the opposition following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli but India’s performance thus far has been a testament to their depth and rich talent.

The mountains of runs scored by Gill and Co. have forced Ben Stokes to depart from their original template: prepare flat tracks and bat the opposition out of the game.

The roaring success of the Indian batters on flat tracks has proved counter productive for the hosts who are now expected to dish out a surface offering a fair amount of seam movement. Add to that a rather unique challenge of a slope -- that runs up and down -- at the iconic Lord’s.

The return of Bumrah and Jofra Archer, who is set to play his first Test for England in four years, will only make the batters’ task tougher.

The tourists have little to worry about in the batting department barring the form of Karun Nair, who has looked a tad uncomfortable against the ball that jumps from length. Trust England to pepper Yashasvi Jaiswal with short stuff into the body but like he often does, the Indian opener will find a way to score runs.

The only expected change in India's playing eleven will be Bumrah coming in place of Prasidh Krishna. Serious question marks were raised over the efficacy of the Indian pacers after Leeds but the trio of Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah gives a potent look to the attack.

With a 10-wicket match-haul in the second Test, Akash Deep had a dream debut in England and considering his penchant to target stumps all the time, the home side batters would need to be extra careful against the wily operator.

Siraj would take confidence from his match-winning effort at Lord’s in 2021 while Bumrah is a threat even on the flattest of tracks.

India played three all-rounders at Edgbaston, including two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar. That combination is likely to continue with Nitish Reddy being the lone pace-bowling all-rounder whose primary skill is batting.

“The series is stuck at 1-1 at the moment, but the best bowlers in the series have been from India. Bumrah is by far better than anybody else on show, but the way Akash Deep bowled the last Test and Siraj, they were outstanding and that's a huge, huge bonus for India to have three seamers, who can take wickets. That is a concern for England at the moment," former England pacer Darren Gough told PTI.

The England bowling attack will be strengthened by the expected return of Archer. Having regained full fitness, right-arm pacer Gus Atkinson is also back in the squad.

With India batters making England pacers toil in the first two games, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue could be rotated.

On the batting front, pressure will be on opener Zak Crawley after twin failures at Edgbaston while more runs are expected from the bat of skipper Ben Stokes, who did not take much time to gain rhythm with the ball but the same can’t be said about his batting.

Crowd turnout has been exceptional in the series thus far and Lord’s will be another sellout, adding to the excitement built by the competitive nature of both teams.

The Squads: India: Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

England: Ben Stokes (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

Match Starts: 3:30pm IST.