Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer are destined to face each other at the historic Lord's Cricket Ground as England decided to bat first after winning the toss in the third match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy on Thursday.
With the five-match series delicately poised at 1-1, this game has high stakes. England beat India by five wickets in a thrilling finish at Headingley, before India responded with a comprehensive 336-run victory at Edgbaston. Interestingly, this is just the second time that England have chosen to bat first under the stewardship of Stokes-McCullum.
All attention will be on Jofra Archer as he returns to Test cricket after being out of action for four years with chronic back and elbow injuries. England captain Ben Stokes said, "Surface is how it usually is, and the sun is out, so we're going to have a bat. The mood is good, it's been a well-fought two Test matches so far.
He added, "We're looking to leave Lord's 2-1. The body feels good and everyone's fresh and raring to go. Everyone loves playing at Lord's and you just have to soak it all in. Quick turnaround so we made the most of the time between games."
India, on the other hand, bring back pace ace Jasprit Bumrah in place of Prasidh Krishna in the XI. Despite the seamer-friendly conditions, there was no room for wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Captain Shubman Gill conceded that the toss decision wasn't an easy one to make: "I was a bit puzzled about what to do and would have probably bowled first."
Looking back at the team's recent performance, Gill supplemented, "If there's anything in the wicket, it's going to be in the first couple of days. I think the contribution from everyone was fabulous; that was what we were looking at from all of us. The bowlers are confident, it wasn't easy to pick all those wickets on that surface (at Edgbaston). I feel happy when the hard work reaps, it's very satisfying.
Playing XIs:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
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