England vs India, 3rd Test, Lord’s – Match Preview

The series is tied at 1-1, both England and India will go back to their full strength at the iconic Lord’s with a goal to take a lead in the third Test. The visitors made a remarkable comeback to earn their maiden and biggest away win at Edgbaston and would look to carry the good show.

The fact that their gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah would make a return to the playing XI, will boost their chances of taking a lead. Bumrah is likely to replace Prasidh Krishna, who hasn’t done anything of note in the first two Test matches.

It would be interesting to note if the tourists would back Kuldeep Yadav or would they continue with their tactics of playing with a long tail. Many experts believe Yadav should be part of India’s playing XI, but it won’t be surprising if India continue to back the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to get a few extra runs.

The Lord’s pitch is expected to be green, and that could go against Yadav’s selection.

On the other hand, Jofra Archer has been named in England’s playing XI in a Test match after a long gap of four years. Archer will definitely add ammunition to the home team’s bowling line-up, which looked toothless at Edgbaston.

England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

India Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Sai Sudharsan, Arshdeep Singh, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav