Exactly six years on from the barest of margins, another deflection sent a Lord’s epic England’s way. An intense battle of wills ended at 4.54pm on the final day when Mohammed Siraj, India’s No 11, thought he had repelled some extra bounce from Shoaib Bashir, only for the ball to trickle back on to the stumps and dislodge a bail.
It was a galling way for Shubman Gill’s touring side to lose this third Test by just 22 runs and go 2-1 down in the series; a mixture of relief and jubilation for Ben Stokes and the hosts. Much like the World Cup final here in 2019, England got over the line on a humdinger of a day that at the same time very nearly broke them.
Both teams deserve immense credit for the five days of drama served up, this the second of back‑to‑back Tests that began in a heatwave and hit boiling point when a row over time-wasting blew up on the third evening.
Unlike a similar spat when they met at Lord’s in 2021 – Virat Kohli’s “60 overs of hell” match – England just about held their nerve.
They were very much dragged through the wringer as Ravindra Jadeja’s remarkable unbeaten 61 from 181 balls turned 112 for eight at lunch into a slow-burn thriller that drove India so close to a target of 193 runs. The needle witnessed across the last two days melted away at the end, Joe Root among those to console the bereft Siraj and shake hands with Jadeja in respect of his near five-hour rearguard.
Jofra Archer’s return to the scene of the super over added 90mph‑plus menace to England’s attack, with two crucial wickets on the last day and a vicious blow to Siraj’s arm moments before that bail dropped to the ground. Had Archer simply got through his first Test in four years unscathed, it probably would have been deemed a success.
England’s slim series lead, though, came down chiefly to the unrelenting Stokes and a match littered with typical interventions from the all‑rounder. Five wickets, 77 runs, and gamechanging run out on day three, plus 24 overs thundered down in the fourth innings despite that rebellious body – the captain’s paw prints were all over this one.
It was also a victory for his side’s newfound pragmatism on this sluggish surface, set up as it was by the patient climb to 387 all out in the first innings that was built around Root’s 37th Test century. Somehow, despite 12 wickets in his two appearances this series, including seven here at Lord’s, Jasprit Bumrah has ended up on the losing side twice.
Bumrah did his utmost to prevent this, emerging after lunch and supporting Jadeja in a gimlet-eyed stand that chiselled off 35 runs in strike‑farmed singles and nearly spanned the entire afternoon. That was until Stokes, amid a tunnel‑vision 10‑over spell, induced a top-edge from Bumrah for the breakthrough that England feared might never come.
Jadeja still had 45 runs to get and Siraj for company, with tea delayed in anticipation of the coup de grâce. But the pitch had long since died, likewise a rare Dukes ball to stay the course. In the end it took Bashir and that lucky break to settle matters two days after a less welcome one to his left little finger. The off‑spinner’s series is over, England later confirmed, but his final contribution will live with him forever.
It said everything about India’s spirit – spirit embodied by the wily Jadeja – that they took this match so deep. After a frenetic end to the fourth evening that left them four wickets down, with 135 still to go, the touring side endured another seemingly ruinous morning session that made an English march to victory after lunch feel inevitable.
Stokes and Archer were at the very heart of this, starting out in tandem and sharing three strikes inside the first 40 minutes. Archer justified Stokes’s gut call to give him the nod from the Pavilion End in light of Brydon Carse’s success there the previous evening, while the pair made the 17-over-old ball count before it lost its remaining hardness.
Both the betting exchanges and the WinViz gizmo had India as slim favourites before this initial surge, while the noise that met the first run of the morning – Rishabh Pant squirting Stokes for a single – underlined how the support in the stands would be split down the middle, rather than the pro-English cauldron whipped up on day four.
Not that Lord’s did not erupt at the first incision, Archer responding to a charging four from Pant with a missile that nipped down the slope and uprooted his off stump. Even impaired by a finger injury – one that forced him to sit out wicketkeeping duties, though he was later declared fit for the fourth Test – Pant’s cheap departure felt a huge moment.
Although it was probably trumped by Stokes trapping KL Rahul lbw for 39 three overs later. It took a review, however, with the two noises heard by umpire Sharfuddoula shown to be bat on pad rather than ball and three reds flashing up on the big screen. Up in the Sony commentary box, the great Sunil Gavaskar began querying the Hawk-Eye projection, even if one suspects this was chiefly disappointment talking.
The champagne moment? Beyond Bashir’s final act, it was probably Archer’s removal of Washington Sundar fourth ball with a sparkling one-handed return catch. And even after a partnership formed, and Stokes finally took a breather after nine overs off the reel, Chris Woakes nicked off Nitish Kumar Reddy to leave India in tatters at lunch.
Jadeja put paid to that notion of a quick finish thereafter, even his remarkable display of defiance fell just short. He and every other player to play a role in this Lord’s classic has earned their break and then some, before a series tipped England’s way via the most fortunate of deflections resumes at Old Trafford in just over a week’s time.
