India take four wickets as batting gets tough at Lord's
A fired-up Siraj led the way for the visitors while the hosts look to Stokes and Root for a rebuild
ESPNcricinfo staff
13-Jul-2025
Harry Brook was bowled round his legs at an inopportune time • PA Photos/Getty Images
Lunch England 387 and 98 for 4 (Root 17*, Stokes 2*, Siraj 2-11) lead India 387 by 98 runs
Mohammed Siraj took two wickets from a miserly seven-over spell, starting with Ben Duckett, who pulled to Jasprit Bumrah at mid-on and faced an impassioned send-off from the bowler that maintained the tension of the previous evening.
Siraj struck again when he pinned Ollie Pope lbw, although it took an India review to confirm his dismissal.
Bumrah bowled beautifully without reward, exploiting uneven bounce and keeping Zak Crawley on edge after a face-off the previous evening between Crawley and Shubman Gill, who was incensed by England's time-wasting in what became the solitary over of the innings on day three.
Bumrah returned towards the end of the fourth morning and remained wicketless but England were in all sorts of bother.
Nitish Kumar Reddy had relieved him after his iniital spell midway through the session and removed Crawley for the second time in the match, a loose drive outside off stump gathered by Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully.
Brook livened up England's hopes ramping Akash Deep for back-to-back fours before launching him down the ground for six. But in an excellent response, Akash Deep bowled Brook round his legs attempting to sweep a full, straight one and flattened middle stump.
It left England four wickets down at lunch before they could put 100 runs on the board and not-out batters Joe Root and Ben Stokes with some rebuilding to do after the break.