London: England would have walked away with a sigh of relief having two of their most experienced men in the middle at the end of the first day’s play at Lord’s against India but captain Ben Stokes’ injury and the nature of the Lord’s track, how it behaved from ball one, would be concerns they would have taken back to the changeroom on Thursday, July 10. Indian captain Shubman Gill and pacer Mohammed Siraj were among those taking a dig at England for playing cautiously, for throwing the Bazball rulebook out of the window, even if only for a bit, as they had two of their most experienced batters in the middle with 251 runs on the board.
Keeping ego aside was the big thing for England on Day 1 of the Lord’s Test, which played up and down and was inconsistent much more than anyone anticipated. To their credit, despite some very good bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep in their opening spell, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett negotiated the first hour very well but as it is with the Bazballers, one lapse of concentration and all the hard work is down in the dumps.
