IND vs ENG, 3rd Test Match, Day 2: Bumrah Blitz & Ball Drama at Lord’s

Published during the lunch break in the UK, #MidMatchMemo delivers sharp analysis from the first session of play — and picks up where we left off the previous day.

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WHAT DO BEES, flying ants, snakes, hedgehogs, pigs, mice, dogs, penguins and now ladybirds have in common? They’ve all found ways and means to halt cricket matches, and on Thursday, the latter joined this elite cadre of spoilsports. A swarm of ladybirds laid siege to Lord’s creating much mirth and inconvenience as the day’s play drew to a close.

How England would’ve wished for another such insect intervention in the opening hour on Friday when Jasprit Bumrah was steaming in and unleashing one thunderbolt after another. In a matter of minutes, the Indian speedster had uprooted the off and middle stumps of centurion Joe Root and Ben Stokes respectively, and induced the finest of edges off Chris Woakes’ Gray-Nicolls bat. All it took was 13 balls to reduce England from a comfortable 260/4 to a wobbly 271/7.

And in between those was an opportunity to further ruin the hosts’ scorecard. While on six runs, wicketkeeper Jamie Smith edged a Mohammed Siraj delivery to KL Rahul in the slips. This time, the Indian opener was standing at a perfect distance from the stumps. Astute readers will recall that a catch fell agonisingly short of him on Thursday morning. The chance on Friday however seemed to come too quickly at Rahul, who ended up shelling it. After the disasterclass in the first Test, India’s fielding — and more precisely, catching — seemed to have been improving, but this tendency to spurn chances doesn’t augur well for the rest of the series.

The big story on the second day however was the state of the much-maligned (in recent times) Dukes ball. A mere 63 balls or 10.3 overs into the second new ball’s tenure, the umpires heeded India’s complaints about the ball, deemed it to be out of shape and replaced it. Questions will undoubtedly be raised about why India decided to ask for a ball-change when they were in the ascendancy. Around three overs later, Indian skipper Shubman Gill was seen engaged in another discussion with the umpires about the state of the ball. And five overs later, the ball was changed again. This time, Gill and Co seemed content with the state of the red projectile. But the damage had been done. With the original ball causing England all sorts of trouble, the visitors were looking at bowling out the hosts for under 300 runs. As it stands, England went into lunch at 353/7.

Usually, frequent disruptions tend to put batters off their game, and this results in them making an error and losing their wicket. This time, however, Smith with Brydon Carse for company dug in and by lunch, had racked up a very decent 82-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Meanwhile, it was the Indian bowlers who seemed to be rattled by the disruptions and bowling without a clear plan. 'Hurl it and hope for the best' seemed to be the strategy.

At the interval, Smith appeared to be in the middle of another solid knock in the midst of a truly glorious series with the bat, having already notched up (at the time of writing) 401 runs in the series so far at a staggering average of 200.50. Post-lunch, India will want to set aside their worries about the state of the ball, and hunt down Smith’s wicket.

Until the attack of the ladybirds, the first day of the Lord’s Test had made for absorbing viewing for fans of attritional cricket. After Nitish Kumar Reddy’s double-strike, England’s batters seemed to come to the realisation that the Lord’s pitch was deceptively slower than anticipated. And as such, they’d have to curb their propensity to smack the ball around. As soon as they knuckled down and began to play a bit more conservatively, the runs began to flow and the Indian bowlers seemed less lethal.

Root and Ollie Pope were able to settle the hosts’ frazzled nerves and bring some order to proceedings as they put together a 109-run partnership. Honours were shared by the end of the first day with Root unbeaten on 99, but the dangerous Harry Brook back in the pavilion with only 11 runs on the board. The biggest worry for India was the injury suffered by wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.

In the 34th over of the English innings, Pant flung himself at a stray legside ball by Bumrah. And in so doing, ended up copping a blow to a fingertip. It would later be confirmed that he had done some damage to that digit and would be unable to continue keeping wickets. Substitute Dhruv Jurel had acquitted himself quite well behind the stumps by lunch on the second day, however whether or not Pant will be able to bat remains to be seen. And if he can’t make it, how much will India miss his exciting brand of batting? Exciting times lie ahead.

Karan Pradhan is editor-in-chief of Story Mode, a gaming and gaming-adjacent magazine. Follow him on X/Twitter @karanpradhan_