England openers knew they were in for a fight when they walked out at Lord’s. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett braced for Jasprit Bumrah’s pace and Akash Deep’s tidy lines. They handled the early storm well enough, stitching 43 runs for the first wicket. Then came Nitish Kumar Reddy — young, untested on this stage, and overlooked by many after a forgettable outing in Birmingham.
It took him one over to flip the script.
One over, two setbacks
Reddy’s spell came at the right time. On the third ball of the 14th over, he sent down a short delivery drifting down leg. Duckett, eyeing a boundary, misread the pace. His glove made the faintest contact before Rishabh Pant took it cleanly behind the stumps. Umpire Paul Reiffel didn’t waste a second. Duckett, who managed only 23 from 40 balls despite being Player of the Match in the first Test, was done for the day.
“Umpire Paul Reiffel immediately raised his finger as Duckett departed for 23 runs.”
Three balls later, Crawley’s luck ran out too. The ball nipped away, found extra bounce, and kissed his glove on the way to Pant’s gloves. Crawley trudged off with just 18 from 43 balls. At the end of that over, England had slumped from a steady 43 without loss to a shaky 45 for 2.
A pitch full of questions
England captain Ben Stokes had asked for a pitch with bite after the battering at Edgbaston. Early signs looked promising — green patches, grass left to help the bowlers. But by the toss, the strip looked tamer. Even India captain Shubman Gill seemed unsure what to do.
Yet the surface turned tricky soon enough. Balls kept low, some bounced more than expected. Reddy found the uneven bounce handy. In the first 20 overs, batting wasn’t as straightforward as England had hoped. If forecasts hold, run-making might get easier before spin comes into play on the fourth and fifth days.
A big call pays off
Nitish had not done much in the last Test — just one run each innings. Many thought he’d be dropped. But the team management stuck by him for the Lord’s Test, and he paid them back immediately. In a single over, he got rid of England’s openers and reminded everyone why the faith was worth it.
The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh now has his first Test wickets against England. His double strike was quickly posted by the broadcaster on X and has been shared widely since.
India made one change for this match: Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top Test bowler, returned to replace Prasidh Krishna. Bumrah had sat out the Edgbaston match to manage his workload.
England, smarting from that heavy 336-run defeat, made their own change. Jofra Archer, sidelined for more than four years by injury, is back in the Test side. He took the place of Josh Tongue and will hope to give England an edge on a pitch that might just help him.
For England, this wasn’t how they wanted to start. Crawley and Duckett promised stability, but Nitish’s double blow cracked it open. With Bumrah and Siraj steaming in, and the pitch still doing its bit, England’s middle order face a task.
This third Test at the Home of Cricket was always going to be about who could handle the early nerves better. For now, India hold that edge — thanks to one over that England won’t forget in a hurry.
It took him one over to flip the script.
One over, two setbacks
Reddy’s spell came at the right time. On the third ball of the 14th over, he sent down a short delivery drifting down leg. Duckett, eyeing a boundary, misread the pace. His glove made the faintest contact before Rishabh Pant took it cleanly behind the stumps. Umpire Paul Reiffel didn’t waste a second. Duckett, who managed only 23 from 40 balls despite being Player of the Match in the first Test, was done for the day.
“Umpire Paul Reiffel immediately raised his finger as Duckett departed for 23 runs.”
Nitish Kumar Reddy sends England's openers packing 💥#SonySportsNetwork #GroundTumharaJeetHamari #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/1L6fWYd126
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) July 10, 2025
Three balls later, Crawley’s luck ran out too. The ball nipped away, found extra bounce, and kissed his glove on the way to Pant’s gloves. Crawley trudged off with just 18 from 43 balls. At the end of that over, England had slumped from a steady 43 without loss to a shaky 45 for 2.
A pitch full of questions
England captain Ben Stokes had asked for a pitch with bite after the battering at Edgbaston. Early signs looked promising — green patches, grass left to help the bowlers. But by the toss, the strip looked tamer. Even India captain Shubman Gill seemed unsure what to do.
Yet the surface turned tricky soon enough. Balls kept low, some bounced more than expected. Reddy found the uneven bounce handy. In the first 20 overs, batting wasn’t as straightforward as England had hoped. If forecasts hold, run-making might get easier before spin comes into play on the fourth and fifth days.
A big call pays off
Nitish had not done much in the last Test — just one run each innings. Many thought he’d be dropped. But the team management stuck by him for the Lord’s Test, and he paid them back immediately. In a single over, he got rid of England’s openers and reminded everyone why the faith was worth it.
The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh now has his first Test wickets against England. His double strike was quickly posted by the broadcaster on X and has been shared widely since.
India made one change for this match: Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top Test bowler, returned to replace Prasidh Krishna. Bumrah had sat out the Edgbaston match to manage his workload.
England, smarting from that heavy 336-run defeat, made their own change. Jofra Archer, sidelined for more than four years by injury, is back in the Test side. He took the place of Josh Tongue and will hope to give England an edge on a pitch that might just help him.
For England, this wasn’t how they wanted to start. Crawley and Duckett promised stability, but Nitish’s double blow cracked it open. With Bumrah and Siraj steaming in, and the pitch still doing its bit, England’s middle order face a task.
This third Test at the Home of Cricket was always going to be about who could handle the early nerves better. For now, India hold that edge — thanks to one over that England won’t forget in a hurry.
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