Nitish Kumar Reddy puts England under pressure in third test

LONDON: India’s Nitish Kumar Reddy dismissed openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the same over as England laboured to 83-2 at lunch on the first day of the third test at Lord’s on Thursday.

England captain Ben Stokes had won the toss under sunny skies and would have expected his top order to take advantage of favourable batting conditions.

With Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top-ranked bowler, back in their ranks, however, India bowled well and caused problems for the batsmen throughout the first session.

Joe Root was 24 not out and Ollie Pope unbeaten on 12 at the interval.

Both are still at the crease at stumps after 42 overs – Root on 41, Pope on 27.

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India won the second test by 336 runs without Bumrah to level the series and he bowled a probing opening spell as the touring side rode the momentum of their excellent performance at Edgbaston.

Crawley drove Akash Deep sweetly to the cover boundary before greeting Mohammed Siraj to the attack with another sweet strike through the off side but neither batsman looked comfortable at the crease.

Immediately after the drinks interval, Nitish Kumar Reddy struck in his first over when Duckett fell for 23, playing a loose stroke to a ball down the leg side and feathering a catch to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Pope was dropped off his first ball, a very hard chance to Shubman Gill at gully, before Reddy squared Crawley up with a ball that moved away and he edged it to Pant to depart for 18.

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A packed crowd at the home of cricket was stunned into near silence as India celebrated wildly and Nitish Kumar Reddy continued to extract movement off the pitch.

Root used his experience to work the ball around and he and Pope took England through to lunch without further alarm but India will feel they have started the match well.

England recalled fast bowler Jofra Archer for his first test appearance in more than four years in place of Josh Tongue.