Third Test from Thursday: India’s Record at Lord’s is Poor, but Advantage is Possible – Here’s How
Lord’s: The third Test between India and England will begin at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground — often called the “Mecca of Cricket” — on Thursday, July 10, at 3:30 PM (IST). With the series currently tied at 1-1, a win here would give Shubman Gill’s Indian team a 2-1 lead. Although India has a poor overall Test record at this venue, history shows that whenever India has won a Test at Lord’s, it has also taken the lead in the series.
India has played Test cricket since 1932, and its very first Test match was at Lord’s that year, where C.K. Nayudu’s team lost to Douglas Jardine’s England by 158 runs.
So far, India has played 19 Tests at Lord’s — winning just 3, losing 12, and drawing 4. However, in each of the three victories (1986, 2014, and 2021), India took the lead in the corresponding series:
1986: Under Kapil Dev, India defeated David Gower’s England by 5 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-Test series.
2014: After 28 years, under M.S. Dhoni’s captaincy, India beat Alastair Cook’s team by 95 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.
2021: Virat Kohli led India to a 151-run win over Joe Root’s England, again gaining a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.
This time, India has a solid opportunity to take a 2-1 lead, and there are several key reasons behind this:
Captain Shubman Gill is in sensational form, having hit both a double century and a century in the second Test.
Vice-captain Rishabh Pant, along with KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Ravindra Jadeja, are capable of dominating the British bowlers once again.
World no.1 Test bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been training hard. English batters are likely nervous about facing him again at Lord’s.
Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj performed impressively in the second Test, taking 10 and 7 wickets respectively. With this form, Arshdeep Singh may find it difficult to get a place in the XI. Still, the presence of four pacers could trouble England significantly.
In the spin department, Ravindra Jadeja remains a key all-rounder, while Washington Sundar showed grit in the second Test by staying at the crease for 117 minutes and scoring a valuable 42, supporting Gill. He could be retained to ensure batting depth.
Whether Kuldeep Yadav, the effective left-arm spinner, will be picked remains a topic of debate.