INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
At the series’ halfway point, everything seemed caught in this looping rhythm: deadlocks, small jabs, visual echoes ©Getty
And then, on the 13th day of the series, the niceties wore thin. England and India couldn’t be separated, not on the scoreboard, not on the field. First-innings scores locked at 387 each. Series level at 1-1, one raised finger on either side, as if the scoreline itself had a gesture. Except by stumps, that finger wasn’t just a number anymore, it was Shubman Gill and Zak Crawley pointing at each other in a flashpoint finish, on a day when even Rishabh Pant’s sore index finger had found its mirror in Shoaib Bashir’s hurt pinky.
At the series’ halfway point, everything seemed caught in this looping rhythm: deadlocks, small jabs, visual echoes. Under the soft, falling London sun, the mood thickened. Even Tim Southee, usually the quiet Kiwi in the room, left a dry punchline hanging, about double standards, and his own jabbed finger at the Indian captain getting a massage in the middle of the second day’s play.
It was a response to Gill’s turn to the theatrics, gesturing sharply as England’s openers dragged their feet, so much so that only one over was bowled before stumps in the time meant for at least two. That missing over pushed the tally of lost overs in this Test to 32 – or more than a session – with heat, ball-changes, injury breaks and gamesmanship contributing. Yet none of it dulled the edge: the cricketing brilliance or the theatre.
It was only fitting, really, that the day ended like this, and with KL Rahul later empathising with Crawley as a fellow opening batter, asked to bat late with nothing to gain and everything to lose. Fitting, because it had all begun with Rahul himself, walking out under pressure with India 242 behind. As unflappable as his batting has been this series, for the briefest moment, Rahul looked fidgety.
Not that the England bowling had anything to do with it. Moments before crossing the rope, he was busy with something else entirely: struggling to fasten his orange fitness tracker over his glove. The umpires and England’s fielders were already drifting into position when Pant stepped in to help, his injured hand fumbling over wrist. When the strap refused to stay on, it was simply handed back to a support staffer. The first of the unscripted pause over, the game could finally begin.
It was also the first of two assists Pant couldn’t quite complete that afternoon. The second came just before the end of the morning session he and Rahul had dominated to bridge the gap. Unlike that finish when England’s openers were reluctant to get on and then in a hurry to get off the field, here the session break came too soon for Rahul, edging towards his second hundred of the series, the 10th of his career.
Rahul would later say he’d told Pant that he wanted to get there before the break, and with Bashir bowling, he’d try and get there. The off-spinner did offer a short ball in that final over, one Rahul should have put it away. He didn’t and was now two short and off strike. Pant, looking for one more act of partnership, then pushed for a run that wasn’t there and was caught by a piece of athletic brilliance from Ben Stokes. The England captain roared after seizing an unexpected dessert before lunch.
Six runs into the next session, India also lost Rahul for a round 100, another quiet nod to the symmetry of the day. Still 133 behind, the visitors threatened to squander ground they had taken great pains to regain and Nitish Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja didn’t help by gambling with their running between the wickets. Yet somehow, England couldn’t find the stumps anymore.
Only 68 runs came between Lunch and Tea that saw it all. Jofra Archer then bowled a post-lunch spell full of thunderbolts, but it brought no breakthroughs. The only other dent England managed was on Nitish’s helmet from a Stokes bouncer. And suddenly, it was the England captain carrying the strain in the evening. His jersey soaked in sweat, his temper flickering as he charged in from the Nursery End through the hottest stretch of the day. Eventually, it fell to Southee to step across and pass a quieter message: not everything could be solved by running himself to the ground.
And when the breakthrough did come, it was not by force, but through a legside tickle. When Jadeja fell for 72, India were just 11 behind England’s score. And 11 was all they managed for the final four wickets. That meant, after three days of rising tempers and temperatures, of missed chances and pointed fingers, the Lord’s Test reset itself: scores level, everything back to zero.
It was as if this series remained caught in a loop it can’t quite escape. India, once again, making unforced errors, unable to bat themselves into complete ascendancy. England, once again, letting the new ball advantage slip through their hands without striking. Two teams locked in a game of snakes and ladders – chasing, climbing, only to slide back and end up side by side once more, knocking their own ladders away.
And when all the ladders are gone, only the snakes will remain. The question then will be simple: who can find the sting to finally break free?
© Cricbuzz
