Joe Root on 99 not out as England steady against India

LONDON: Experienced batter Joe Root’s unbeaten 99-run knock kept England in a comfortable position on the opening day of the third Test against India here at The Lord’s on Thursday.

At the stumps on day one, the home side were 251/4 with Root and captain Ben Stokes, unbeaten on 99 and 39 respectively.

Opting to bat first, the home side got off to a shaky start to their innings as their openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley could yield 43 runs together before both perished in the same over, bowled by Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Duckett, the first to get dismissed, scored 23 off 40 deliveries, while Crawley could amass 18.

Following the back-to-back blows, experienced Root and Ollie Pope launched a recovery as they added 109 runs for the third wicket, taking England’s total to 153/2 at tea.

The duo, however, failed to extend their anchoring partnership further as Ravindra Jadeja got Pope caught behind on the first delivery after the break.

Pope walked back after scoring 44 off 104 deliveries with the help of four boundaries.

The home side then suffered another blow to their batting charge as India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up top-ranked Test batter Harry Brook (11) with a well-crafted in-dipper.

His dismissal had England languishing at 172/4 before the senior duo of Joe Root and Stokes stabilised their innings.

The duo had added 79 runs amid their unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership until the stumps were called after 83 overs of action.

For the unversed, the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is currently tied at 1-1 after India avenged the five-wicket defeat in the series opener with a thumping 336-run victory in the subsequent fixture.