India vs England: Day Two at Lord’s was an ode to the old-school notes of Test cricket

Not playing Test cricket for the last four-and-a-half years, it took Jofra Archer just two deliveries to come up with an unplayable ball. That smooth as Rolls Royce run-up hadn’t changed, the easy approach to the crease was in place and he could also perfectly pitch a 90 mph out-swinger on the legs of a left-hander and square him up.

Yashasvi Jaiswal could only do what even the best of batsmen manage on such balls—edge it into the hands of slips. Lord’s erupted, Jofra was back. The England team was delighted. They had got back their old trusted weapon and it was firing alright. India, after conceding a lot more runs than they should have, had a bad start to their first innings on a difficult pitch.

Later in the day, India would lose their batting machine and captain Shubman Gill (16) to a Chris Woakes delivery that was so unlike that Jofra magic ball. This one didn’t have pace, it was bowled with a wobbled seam, moved just a shade. It took Shubman’s edge and was caught by the keeper standing up.

These two wickets summed up a cryptic pitch that keeps toggling between slow, sluggish, pacy and lively. India, at stumps, were 145/3 after England were all out 387, scoring roughly 80 more than they should have.

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It was for the second straight day, England was playing conventional cricket. After the batting discipline, skipper Ben Stokes didn’t try those ultra-attacking fields. For most of the day it was slips, point, cover, mid-on and sweeper. For a brief while, he did push all his men on leg but changed quickly. This will be a Test match of attrition and patience. As they say, ‘the game is on’. There are pace-setters or a trailing pack. The third day, like this third Test of the series, is when one team is expected to make a decisive move.

England should be worried about the two unbeaten batsmen Pant and Rahul. They need to break this partnership fast. Rahul can stick around and Pant can run away with the match. Of all the Indian batsmen who took the field, Rahul and Pant have played the most apt cricket on this surface. On them rests India’s hope.

Monkish abstinence

All through the day, KL Rahul showed incredible abstinence when it came to off-side play. He seemed to have decided to avoid his cover-drive, a stroke that he keeps bringing out at the start of his innings. The opener would either defend the drivable balls outside the off stump, leave them or when he needed, poke them to the square or behind the keeper. To keep the scoreboard ticking, he would place the ball just beyond the reach of the slips or the point fielder to score boundaries. He did play in the cover region but those were pushes not full-blooded drives from his flashing blade.

Rahul was more fluent on the leg-side. To the balls pitched on middle and leg, he would either whip them off his hips or find gaps in the crowded leg-side field. The ‘threading the needle’ stroke of the day was the one where he beat the square leg, short mid-wicket and mid fielder standing not far from each other. This was a pitch where batsmen of Rahul’s technique and temperament were most likely to succeed. There aren’t many at Lord’s, Root being the exception.

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Karun Nair once again played a Karun Nair innings. When he came into bat, Archer was flying off the turf, bowling at full tilt, making the speed gun go tizzy. The first ball Nair faced was a 150 kph scorcher. Nair didn’t seem too bothered by pace. He read the line of the ball perfectly, didn’t get edgy and middle those balls. Once settled, he would use Jofra’s pace to drive him down the wicket. A boundary that beat the mid-off fielder being an example of his smart thinking.

But when on 40, like many times before in this series, he couldn’t keep his bat away from probing off-side line. Another ball from good length took the edge of his bat that was at an angle when it met the ball. The edge flew exactly between the keeper and first slip. Root would dive full-length and throw his left hand out. The ball would get stuck in there and the umpires would call for replays. Nair, once again, would stand at the crease frozen and slowly walk towards the pavilion. The pressure on the new No.3 mounts. With Sai Sudharsan in the dressing room waiting, time might be running out for Nair.

Stamp of Stokes

After Nair went into the hut, came a period of play that had a star cast with possibility of a riveting contest. Archer and Stokes were bowling in pairs with Shubman and Rahul at the crease. It was Archer who started the four-way contest with a real fiery over to Rahul. He made the ball rise from short of good length and jump at the Indian opener’s neck. Rahul would withdraw from the line and let the ball go. Stokes was also trying to bend his back but Shubman was too correct for his sharp balls. His dead-bat front-foot defence was a kind of dispassionate response that could deflate any pumped bowler.

To make this happen, the captain would change Jofra’s end. Stokes would also try his favourite trick – packing leg-side and asking the bowler to bowl short. At Jofra’s pace this ‘leg-plan’ had the possibility to work. But not on this pitch, not with this ball that gets soft in the middle over.

At the end of first day on return in Tests, he had figures of 10-3-22-1. This was no T20 or ODI. Welcome to Test cricket. This was no IPL where you bare your fangs for four overs and go sit in the dugout. This was cricket in flannels where you run in hard all day and turn up again 12 hours later and do the same. Jofra playing his first Bazball Test would be wondering what this talk of revolution was all about.

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