ENGLAND captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat in the third Test against India at Lord’s on Thursday.
The decision brought India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah straight back into action after missing the second Test. Bumrah, currently the world’s top-ranked Test bowler, had been rested for the match at Edgbaston, where India defeated England by 336 runs to level the five-match series at 1-1.
Bumrah replaced Prasidh Krishna in the line-up. Akash Deep, who had taken 10 wickets in Birmingham in Bumrah’s absence, retained his place. That win was India’s biggest Test victory away from home in terms of runs.
Stokes had opted to field in both previous matches of the series. England had won the first Test at Headingley by five wickets.
England had already announced their playing eleven for the Lord’s Test, with one change — Jofra Archer returned to the side after more than four years out of Test cricket due to injuries. He replaced Josh Tongue.
India captain Shubman Gill, who has scored 585 runs in the series so far at an average of 146.25 — including innings of 269 and 161 at Edgbaston — said he would also have bowled first.
"I was a bit confused this morning but I would've bowled first," Gill said at the toss. "If there is anything in the wicket, it's in the first day."
The 25-year-old added: "The bowlers are feeling pretty confident. I'm feeling great, as a batsman you feel like you'll always be in the middle."
Stokes said: "The mood's good. It's been a very well fought two Test matches, set up the series nice but we're pushing to leave Lord's leading 2-1. Bodies are all good, a quick turnaround, everyone's fresh."
Teams:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wkt), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Sharfuddoula (BAN)
TV Umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)
