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59th over: India 179-3 (Sudharsan 38, Pant 15) Four bonus runs – well, leg-byes – to India when Carse strays onto the pads of Sudharsan. Carse has been a fair way short of his best; even with a nine-day break between games, he must be feeling the 117 overs he bowled in the first three Tests.
“There have been oodles of scientific studies of cricket ball behaviours – swing, spin, reversing etc – but are there any genuine examples considering the effect of the lights?” wonders John Starbuck. “It’s difficult to allow for different conditions at particular grounds and weather, but if there’s anything in it, surely it would have been shown up by now?”
John, do I look like some kind of über-nerdy scientist? Hold on, forget tha- Now that’s just insulting.
Erm, I don’t really know. Presumably it’s related to the conditions that necessitate use of the floodlights rather than the lights themselves.
58th over: India 174-3 (Sudharsan 38, Pant 14) Rishabh Pant had started his innings rather sedately. That sentence is in the past tense because he has just slog-swept Jofra Archer for four. Yep.
Better still, he tried to reverse-sweep the next ball and was hit on the rump. “What’s he doing?” says Mike Atherton on Sky Sports.
He’s being Rishabh Pant.
57th over: India 164-3 (Sudharsan 35, Pant 9) Sudharsan is sent back by Pant, drops his bat and has to sprint to make his ground. He has plenty of time in the end, but for a split second there was the potential for rare farce.
I’m not sure about England’s tactics here. The floodlights are on and they are bowling at least two balls an over in their own half of the pitch. Get JK Lever on!
56th over: India 163-3 (Sudharsan 35, Pant 8) Sudharsan is beaten by a seductive outswinger from Archer. That’s the kind of delivery he bowled on the first day at Headingley in 2019. On that occasion Archer reduced his pace, made the ball talk and ran through Australia with 6 for 45.
He’s still searching for his first wicket of this game. When he drops short, Sudharsan plays a majestic pull for four, one leg off the ground like Gordon Greenidge.
For a guy who has been recalled to play only his second Test, in a match his team cannot afford to lose, Sudharsan has been hugely impressive.
55th over: India 159-3 (Sudharsan 31, Pant 8) A fuller ball from Carse beats Pant’s slightly absent-minded defensive push. He pummels the middle of the pitch the moment Sudharsan gets on strike, though, which suggests that policy will continue.
A quiet over, four from it.
54th over: India 155-3 (Sudharsan 30, Pant 5) Archer returns in place of Stokes, presumably with Rishabh Pant in mind. They had a short but memorable battle on the final morning at Lord’s.
Sudharsan pulls a short ball over backward square leg and away for four. Carse didn’t pick the ball up at long leg; there was no chance of a catch but under normal circumstances he might have saved the boundary. The enveloping gloom – I mean at Old Trafford, not on Planet Earth – is such that the floodlights are on. That often helps the ball move sideways, so England might put the short-ball ploy on the backburner.
“I get that Shoaib Bashir’s team-mates like him, he has a lot of potential, and one wicket and some parsimonious overs don’t mean Liam Dawson is the future, especially at 35,” begins Ian in Tokyo. “But the enforced dropping of Bashir and recall of Dawson has strengthened England’s bowling, batting and fielding. Hard to see a reason to pick a non-batting, non-fielding spinner if he’s not a match-winner with the ball, isn’t it?”
I’d say it’s a bit more complicated than that, primarily because of conditions in Australia. But I agree with your main point; I’d imagine everyone does. A lot has changed since England invested in Bashir last year and Dawson’s case was almost irresistible. I say ‘almost’ as it took an injury for England to pick him.
53rd over: India 150-3 (Sudharsan 26, Pant 4) Pant charges the first ball after tea, of course, he does, and heaves it along the floor to mid-on. A single later in the over allows England to resume their short-ball attack on Sudharsan; he defends fairly comfortably.
“Notwithstanding what’s happened in the last hour, can you remember a better touring opening partnership in recent years?” wonders Luke Dealtry. “Australia haven’t had one this good for ages.”
I reckon they’re the best since… India’s last tour in 2021, when KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma sold rock and roll back to the Americans Boycottian batting back to the English. I thought Usman Khawaja and David Warner did well in 2023. Warner also added a heap of runs with Chris Rogers in 2015, though that was a peculiar series – Australia struggled when the ball bowled sideways and eviscerated England when it didn’t.
The players are back on the field. Brydon Carse is coming into the attack in place of Liam Dawson.
Alas Smith and, er, Gill
It must be so hard for any batter, especially a young captain, to maintain anything resembling form when they start a series as spectacularly as Shubman Gill.
As we mentioned, South African captain Graeme Smith experienced a similar drop-off 22 years ago.
Graeme Smith (2003)
First two Tests 277, 85, 259 (average 207)
Last three Tests 35, 5, 2, 14, 18, 19 (average 16)
Shubman Gill (2025)
First two Tests 147, 8, 269, 161 (average 146)
Last three Tests 16, 6, 12 (average 11)
ShareTea
52nd over: India 149-3 (Sudharsan 26, Pant 3) Stokes has at least three, possibly four catchers on the leg side for Sudharsan. No matter: Sudharsan takes most of the last over of the afternoon session and calmly sees India through to tea.
It was England’s session: they took three vital wickets for 71 in 26 overs, with Liam Dawson’s dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal the champagne moment.
The wicket of Gill was Stokes’ 15th of the English summer. He has never taken 20 in a single Test season, a peculiar statistic that will probably change in the next fortnight. It would verify what the naked eye has been screaming all summer: after three years of misery, Stokes the bowler is back.
51st over: India 147-3 (Sudharsan 25, Pant 2) With only a few minutes remaining before tea, Pant resists the urge to blast Liam Dawson into a galaxy far, far away, settling instead for a safe single and some soft-handed defensive stokes. Dawson has bowled well; on commentary, Ravi Shastri makes the point that his ability to control the scoring rate helped build pressure before that Stokes wicket.
50th over: India 145-3 (Sudharsan 24, Pant 1) Rishabh Pant is the new batter. He takes a single, then Sudharsan pulls superrbly for four. Stokes applauds him sarcastically before ramming in another short ball that Sudharsan mis-pulls on the bounce to leg slip. The temperature is rising.
Gill is out! And he takes a review with him because there were three reds. Gill padded up top a lovely nipbacker from Stokes that hit him around the kneeroll and would have gone on to hit the top of off stump.
Rod Tucker took an age to give the decision, with Stokes beseeching him to raise the finger. That’s three failures in a row for Gill – the same thing happened to Graeme Smith in 2003 – and, in the context of the series, another Brobdingnagian wicket for Stokes.
Ben Stokes celebrates after taking Gill’s wicket. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 11.17 EDT
WICKET! India 140-3 (Gill LBW b Stokes 12)
Shubman Gill has reviewed but England are sure this is out.
Ben Stoke appeals for the wicket of Shubman Gill … Photograph: Martin Rickett/PAShare
Updated at 11.17 EDT
49th over: India 140-2 (Sudharsan 20, Gill 12) India’s run rate of 2.86 is a reflection of some accurate bowling, a slow outfield and an unusually restrained innings from Yashasvi Jaiswal. Their performance has been quite similar to England’s on the first day at Lord’s.
ShareSmith drops Sudharsan on 20
48th over: India 139-2 (Sudharsan 20, Gill 11) Sudharsan is put down by Jamie Smith! He was caught down the leg side in the first Test and Stokes was aiming for exactly the same dismissal. Sudharsan got a thick inside edge to the right of Smith, who almost dived past the ball and couldn’t take what should have been a pretty comfortable catch.
47th over: India 138-2 (Sudharsan 20, Gill 11) Ravi Shastri, who was a left-arm spinner in a former life, is in the Sky Sports commentary box and sounds very impressed with Liam Dawson – particularly his accuracy. Gill tries to do something about that, running down to thump a drive that just clears the leaping Stokes at mid-on. Fine margins, part 32423534563460943.
46th over: India 132-2 (Sudharsan 19, Gill 6) Stokes, who dismissed Sudharsan in both innings at Headingley, replaces Archer. Three slips in place, nobody down the leg side. Sudharsan defends a few deliveries before playing tip and run on the off side.
45th over: India 131-2 (Sudharsan 18, Gill 6) One of the shots of the day from Sudharsan, a rubber-wristed drive through extra cover for four off Dawson. He’s looking increasingly confident, the Sudharsan India envisaged when they picked him, and he plays two more very confident attacking strokes without beating the infield.
44th over: India 126-2 (Sudharsan 14, Gill 5) Archer’s 12th over of the day passes without incident. We don’t have the data to hand but it feels like the batters have been made to play at a helluva lot of those 72 deliveries. Accuracy and bounce, rather than movement and searing pace, have been his greatest weapons today. His figures are 12-2-23-0.
43rd over: India 124-2 (Sudharsan 13, Gill 4) Dawson’s recall is a symbol of England’s increased pragmatism, a change of approach that has crept up on us after all those grand statements in the first couple of years. It’d be fascinating to know whether it was a collective decision for Stokes, McCullum and Key or just part of the team’s evolution.
Dawson continues to Gill with a slip and leg slip; the latter is almost in the game when, out of nothing, Gill drags an agricultural sweep into the ground and through the legs of Pope.
42nd over: India 122-2 (Sudharsan 13, Gill 2) The arrival of Shubman Gill means an increase in the amount of gum-flapping from the England fielders. Gill plays a typically serene extra-cover drive off Archer that is very well stopped; four runs becomes one (not another Spice Girls reference FFS) and Sudharsan plays out the rest of the over.
The last ball, which kicked from a length, was especially well played.
Updated at 10.01 EDT
41st over: India 120-2 (Sudharsan 13, Gill 1) Never mind what that wicket means to Liam Dawson; never mind that human story. This is a joyous day for the Wisden podcast team of Mark Butcher, Yas Rana, Phil Walker and friends, who have spent most of the last two years cursing Dawson’s absence from the England team.
Updated at 09.57 EDT
After eight years out of the Test team, Liam Dawson has struck with his seventh ball. It was tossed up well wide of off stump, drawing Jaiswal into a nervous defensive push away from his body. The ball skidded on to take the edge and was nicely caught by Harry Brook at slip. For the second Test in succession, an England bowler has had a fairytale start on his return to the side.
Updated at 09.55 EDT
WICKET! India 120-2 (Jaiswal c Brook b Dawson 58)
Welcome back! Liam Dawson has picked up Yashasvi Jaiswal, who normally eats orthodox spin for breakfast, lunch and the rest, with a lovely delivery.
Liam Dawson breaks his eight year test wicket drought. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 09.58 EDT
40th over: India 120-1 (Jaiswal 58, Sudharsan 13) Jofra Archer goes to bed dreaming of having two left-handers to bowl at, among other things, and he continues his third spell with a maiden to Sudharsan.
Archer has been very accurate today, which is reflected in figures of 10-2-20-0.
Thanks Daniel, hello everyone. Before you ask, the A in my name stands for Archibald, which is why so many people are intent on calling me ‘Baldy’.
Righto, my watch is over; here’s *RA Smyth to chill with you through the rest of the day. Peace aht!
39th over: India 120-1 (Jaiswal 58, Sudharsan 13) Decent start from Dawson who, after Sudharsan takes a single, persuades one to go on with the arm and catches Jaiswal’s edge; they run two, two singles follow, and that is drinks.
38th over: India 115-1 (Jaiswal 55, Sudharsan 11) Archer replaces Woakes and begins with a leg-side loosener, then strays on to the pads again and this time, Sudharsan flicks four to deep square; England haven’t tested him enough early in his innings. But Archer improves through the over while, at square leg, Dawson gets loose; having waited three hours to bowl today but eight years since his last cap. Imagine how he must be feeling; I’m not surprised he’s got his mirrored shades on, and I wonder if Jaiswal will go at him.
37th over: India 110-1 (Jaiswal 55, Sudharsan 6) Crydon Barse continues and has a full over at Sudharsan – though I wonder if Stokes would ideally set Archer at him whole he’s still nervous. This isn’t a bad over, but four dots are followed by a low full toss which is driven for three, the bowler responds with a nasty bouncer which Jaiswal must contort to avoid.
36th over: India 107-1 (Jaiswal 55, Sudharsan 3) At what point will Stokes turn to Dawson? Woakes’ extra-long morning spell probably prevented him from turning his arm over in the morning session, but I’m sure captain and bowler will want him in the match as soon as possible. Problem is, he might be behind Archer and Stokes this afternoon, though there’d still be time for him to get a go. Meantime, Woakes goes again and, after a single to each batter, Jaiswal, drives supremely through long-off for four; he’s starting to settle at the crease now.
35th over: India 101-1 (Jaiswal 50, Sudharsan 2) Talking of which, is Andrew Strauss in Napier the definitive not-giving-it-away innings? He’d just come back after being dropped, was batting at three, it was the final Test of a three-match series, and his career was on the line. Starting slowly, he managed 177, and in less than a year was captain of the team. Back with our match, Jaiswal shoves to point, they sprint through for one – there’s a direct hit at Sudharsan’s end, but he’s home – and that raises a crucial, battling fifty. It’s so good to see him bat like this because we know what he can do when it’s in his favour, but this is him showing us that he’s got the minerals to persevere when it isn’t.
Yashasvi Jaiswal brings up his fifty. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 09.28 EDT
34th over: India 100-1 (Jaiswal 49, Sudharsan 2) Immediately, Woakes goes around to the left-handed Sudharsan, who gets off the mark with a flick to deep square; they run two, raising the hundred in the process. In comms, DK reckons Nair ought to have been given a bit longer, having been a long time away and looked alright till getting out; it’s also worth noting that he’s twice been done by screaming catches. But it’s Sudharsan with the shirt and he leaves everything he can, desperate not to give it away.
33rd over: India 98-1 (Jaiswal 49, Sudharsan 0) England, trying to cut off the runs behind square on the off-side, have put point back … for all the difference it makes, Jaiswal waiting for a wide one, then dabbing it into the ground for four through deep third. He’s such a clever batter, and his reactions are amazing – I bet he’s unbeatable at Slapsies and Knuckles. After five balls of the over, point comes up, looking to prevent the single that’ll keep Jaiswal on strike; again, he’s beaten outside off, and Carse is looking better now. Can Woakes get after Sudharson?
32nd over: India 94-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 0) Woakes will fancy himself to get after Sudharsan, who knows this is a big knock for him; between overs, we see footage of him visualising his innings, playing shots in yesterday’s rain. He plays out a second consecutive maiden – and another testing one too; pressure is building, and this feels like a pivotal period in the match. The next hour will be crucial and quite possibly the one after that and the one after that.
31st over: India 94-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 0) Carse continues and a fuller one incites Jaiswal to come forward, play and miss; that’s much better. And he backs it up with another good delivery, attacking the stumps, then another, prodigious late movement sending ball into pad; the pitch is doing stuff, just only some of the time. And another fine delivery completes a really good maiden over, full straightening and passing the edge; Carse might just be into the match.
ShareWICKET! Rahul c Crawley b Woakes 46 (India 94-1)
Finally! Again Woakes probes in the corridor, again he finds some away-movement but this time also a bit of extra bounce, and this time, also the edge, and Rahul squared up, goes back to drive and instead the edge is finally contacted, the ball whizzing to second slip where Crawley snaffles.
KL Rahul makes his way back to the pavilion after being dismissed for 46. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.06 EDT
30th over: India 94-0 (Jaiswal 45, Rahul 46) Woakes slings down a cuttable delivery but as Rahul tries giving it the treatment, it moves away, again missing the edge; it’s as though there’s a force field around both bats, force and field being words I’ve not used in combination since the infant-school playground. Rahul then eases to square leg for two, and England badly need something to happen.
29th over: India 92-0 (Jaiswal 45, Rahul 44) Jaiswal cuts hard but picks out backward point, then goes short and wide – perhaps deliberately, looking for the catch – and Jaiswal doesn’t miss out this time, schmeissing him for four. As he runs in again, we see Brook blowing bubbles with his gum at slip, a habit i don’t get: what is it about chewing that feels good, as opposed to knackering your jaw? Two singles follow and, though I’m sure Carse appreciated the show of faith from his captain tossing him the ball at the start of this session, he is not really threatening.
28th over: India 86-0 (Jaiswal 40, Rahul 43) Woakes, also changing ends and now at the Statham, is rewarded for his morning excellence with another spell; in comms, Ponting notes that England, not just Carse, were too short earlier, saying it’s hard to bowl full without fielders down the ground; he suggests moving third slip to cover, while Nasser wants two gullies given the batters’ desire to cut. Meantime, Rahul takes two to square leg, the only runs from the over.
27th over: India 84-0 (Jaiswal 40, Rahul 41) The teams are out on time – Shubman Gill will be buzzing – and it’s Carse with the ball, changing ends in search of rhythm. Can he bowl fuller than his natural length? Can he find another lick or two? In fairness to England, they didn’t bowl badly this morning, beating the edge a comical number of times, but they struggled to build pressure, the testing deliveries too far apart, and the batters gutsed it out well. During lunch, Jaiswal came out early for five minutes of throwdowns – he probably isn’t entirely happy with his morning’s work, but might also have wanted to adjust to the light. But when Rahul takes a single, he sees away four deliveries … then the final is ruled a no ball and, when the extra one is short and wide, Jaiswal smokes a cut to the point fence for four.
Back come our players. Might it be that the next hour is crucial? Surely not!
Lunchtime email: “David Vaudin may have listened to TMS as a kid while out and about,” says Barry Lloyd. “However, I listened to it through a cheap, tiny transistor radio, clamped to my ear while I pretended to be asleep. I recall traitorously regretting that Fred Trueman didn’t immediately get Neil Hawke for his 300th at The Oval in ‘64 because it meant that I had to stay awake all the way through lunch. Can’t recall what comestibles the team had been gifted though.”
I spent many happy hours doing both – my dad would always have it on when running errands, but from the 1986-87 Ashes onwards, I also had it in my ears having been lozzed to bed. What a feeling that is, having your day prematurely curtailed only to have a full one of Test cricket waiting for you.
Righto, I’m off for a break; I’ll be back in 30 to do an email or two before the afternoon dig gets under way.
Lunchtime entertainment:
That was yet another intense and high-class session of (Test match) cricket. India, though, have built a platform, and if England can’t find a breakthrough early in the afternoon, they could be looking at another monster total.
26th over: India 78-0 (Jaiswal 36, Rahul 40) Archer begins what’ll probably be the final over of the session and he’s got Jaiswal on strike … but only for one ball, a single to midwicket giving the right-handed Rahul, who plays him more easily, five balls to survive. He does so with relative ease, adding a single off the final one and that’s lunch, India put in and finishing the session unscathed. As Gill said at the toss, a good one to lose.
25th over: India 76-0 (Jaiswal 35, Rahul 39) Earlier, we saw Sai Sudharsan sat on the balcony reading a book, but the cameras didn’t linger long enough for us to see what it is; velly poower, as my gran would’ve said. Back in the middle, Rahul nurdles a single then, after three dots, Jaiswal – who has no problem taking the aerial route on the off-side – throws hands at a cut, Mark Butcher at Headingley style, and that’s six! A single follows, and this is fantastic work from the tourists, who’ve ridden their luck but also defended really well.
24th over: India 68-0 (Jaiswal 28, Rahul 37) Archer persuades one to rear up, Rahul feels obliged to play it, and is beaten; England have gone by the outside edge so many times this morning, for no reward. The batter then dabs into the off-side and steals a single, then Archer zips one away from Jaiswal, his seam presented beautifully; he’s so good at bowling to left-handers. And have a look! Archer drops short, but bowls right at the man, who bends away from it, almost on to haunches and, as he falls, the ball flicks the face, or perhaps he flicks the ball with the face, earning four over the keeper’s head. I’ve never seen a shot like that before, deliberate or otherwise.
Yashasvi Jaiswal ducks a short one from Jofra Archer. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 07.57 EDT
23rd over: India 63-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rahul 37) Stokes tries a bouncer from around and Jaiswal goes at it hard, missing; the follow-up is full, straight and handled well. Then, when serves a ball that’s short and wide, he of course doesn’t miss out, buggy-whipping a cut that steams to the fence for four.
22nd over: India 59-0 (Jaiswal 20, Rahul 37) Yup, Archer returns and has Jaiswal, who barely faced him in his first spell, on strike. He goes around the wicket immediately but still isn’t hitting his Lord’s pace, when he was regularly above 90. Broad says the pitch is spongier at OT, so you don’t get as much momentum from it and into your legs, so it takes time to adjust; perhaps that’s a reason why, and also why Carse hasn’t been at it this morning. A single into the off-side is the only run from the over.
21st over: India 58-0 (Jaiswal 19, Rahul 37) Oh man, the usually dapper Stuart Broad is now wearing a broon cardy so disgraceful I’ve no choice but to snap it. Is he now a mid-60s geography teacher? Meantime, Stokes hurls himself through a second maiden in two overs, totally oblivious to the commentary-box carnage.
IMG 7363 Photograph: SJ BroadShare
20th over: India 58-0 (Jaiswal 19, Rahul 37) Carse hasn’t yet found the rhythm that elevated the evening session on day four at Lord’s, and Rahul twizzles him through midwicket, Archer chasing, diving, and finding his knee stuck in the grass, but he saves the boundary and looks fine when he gets up; the batters run three. Jaiswal then takes the bait, hooking at a bouncer and to-edging, but short of long leg. A wicket does not look imminent, and I’d expect to see Archer return sooner rather than later.
19th over: India 53-0 (Jaiswal 18, Rahul 33) Rahul takes a single, then Stokes squares Jaiswal up, beating his outside edge, before trying a bouncer; the batter isn’t tempted to play, presumably cognisant of the man out on the hook or, as they say or said in Manchester, the hooke (rhymes with booke, looke, puke and so on).
18th over: India 52-0 (Jaiswal 18, Rahul 32) Carse is up at 85mph now but after Jaiswal misses a cut, not quite able to free arms, he nails it two balls later, crunching it to the fence behind square on the off-side for four. Those are the only runs off the over, and this is developing into a really good start for India. I wonder if we might see Archer back into the attack sooner than previously intended, because England need something.
“Here’s the route map to the TMS overseas link that you might wish to share,” offers David Vaudin, doing the Lord’s work.
17th over: India 48-0 (Jaiswal 14, Rahul 32) Stokes introduces himself to the attack, Woakes bottling his spell after a poxy eight overs. Jaiswal, unusually becalmed this morning, turns his loosener into the on-side for one then after three dots, Stokes goes a bit wider on the crease, swings one in, whams the pad, and bends his back almost in half appealing. But you could see the ball was going down, so there’s no review.