3rd Test: Joe Root ends Day One on 99 not out as England reach 251/4 against India

London, July 10 (IANS) Joe Root showed his class of making runs on a hard fought and attritional day of Test match cricket to be 99 not out as England reached 251/4 in 83 overs against India at stumps on Day One of the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at the Lord's here on Thursday.

On a sunny day at the iconic cricket venue, runs came slowly, but that did not mean the cricket any less absorbing from both teams, especially with England playing in an anti-Bazball style, as seen from their run-scoring pace being at just 3.02 runs per over.

Root, who curbed his instincts to hit only nine boundaries in his unbeaten knock coming off 191 balls, will come back on Day Two to reach his 37th Test hundred, 11th against India and eighth at the Lord’s. It was a day when boring suited England, and Root, after the crowd cheered them on when they won the toss and elected to bat first.

Root was involved in a partnership of 109 for the third wicket with Ollie Pope, who made 44, and at the close of day one, he is in an unbroken 79-run stand with his skipper Ben Stokes, who reached 39 not out off 102 balls despite limping due to the heat. For India, they will feel happy about keeping things tight, with Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja being amongst the wicket-takers.

The final session began with Jadeja striking immediately as Pope edged behind to substitute wicketkeeper Jurel, who took a brilliant catch while standing up to the stumps to send back the batter for 44. Harry Brook hit two quick deliveries before a brilliant nip-backer from Bumrah sneaked past his defence to smash into the stumps, as the world's number one Test bowler removes the top-ranked red-ball batter.

Stokes, despite looking edgy against spin, took two boundaries off Akash Deep before glancing Reddy for a boundary, while Root danced down the pitch to drive the all-rounder for four more.

Though Stokes was in discomfort due to a groin issue, Root continued to make runs by sweeping Jadeja for four. Despite the second new ball taken in by India and some discomfort caused by ladybirds, Root and Stokes were solid in their play till stumps arrived on a solid old-school day of Test match cricket.

Brief scores:

England 251/4 in 83 overs (Joe Root 99 not out, Ollie Pope 44; Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-46, Ravindra Jadeja 1-26) against India

--IANS

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