Root just short of century as England make solid start against India

Having suffered a crushing 336-run defeat in the second Test at Edgbaston last week, levelling the five-match series at 1-1, the hosts made a steady start on Thursday, rather than a spectacular one.

Indeed, England needed 35.4 overs to bring up their first 100 runs, their second-slowest figure in any Test under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.

Nitish Kumar Reddy was the pick of India's bowlers as he reached stumps with figures of 2-46, with both wickets coming in his first over of the day.

He had Ben Duckett (23) and Zak Crawley (18) taken by Rishabh Pant – who later exited with a finger injury – while also seeing Ollie Pope (44) dropped by Shubman Gill, all in the 13th over.

But England composed themselves and were happy to play the long game in baking heat, only scoring 70 runs in an attritional afternoon session.

Root and Pope built a partnership of 109 before the latter fell to Ravindra Jadeja from the first ball after tea, while Harry Brook (11) was bowled off the inside edge by Jasprit Bumrah soon afterwards.

7 - Ollie Pope and @root66 have now recorded seven partnerships of 100+ runs in men's Tests; since Pope's @englandcricket debut on 9 August 2018, only two pairs have logged more such stands in the format (9 - M Labuschagne & S Smith, 8 - J Bairstow & J Root). Steady.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/WO6L4cxtfx

— OptaJim (@OptaJim) July 10, 2025

However, England avoided further loss as Root continued to plug away, with the former skipper being joined at the crease by his successor Stokes, who reached 39 but appeared to be nursing a concerning groin injury by the close of play.

In bizarre scenes, the match was briefly halted due to a swarm of ladybirds descending upon the crease, with Stokes complaining they were impairing his vision.

Jadeja attempted to tease Root into returning for a second run off the final delivery he faced, but the home fans will have to wait until Friday to potentially celebrate his 37th Test century, while day two could also see Jofra Archer bowl for England in a red-ball match for the first time in four years.

In the McCullum-Stokes era, England have become synonymous with a high-risk, high-reward approach, but there was no 'Bazball' in sight on Thursday.

At one stage in the afternoon session, England faced 28 consecutive dot balls – their second-most in any Test under McCullum (after 30 versus India at Edgbaston in 2022).

However, Root did his bit to bring some excitement to proceedings, becoming the first player in Test history to score 3,000 runs against India.

*That's stumps - Joe Root ends the day one run shy of his 37th Test century pic.twitter.com/st6EKtJ0EO

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 10, 2025