"Bazball chase mastering went into London manholes" - Fans react as England opt to bat first in ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first at Lord's, London, in the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against India on Thursday, July 10. The hosts ditched their bowl-first tactic following a massive 336-run defeat to India at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Under Stokes, the English team has backed their 'Bazball' approach to chase big scores in the final innings. The same ploy did wonders for them in the opening encounter, where they scripted the 10th-highest fourth innings chase in Test cricket history by overhauling a daunting 371-run target.

However, the English think tank switched to a more traditional bat-first route after the Edgbaston drubbing. It is worth noting that this was only the third instance of Stokes winning the toss and electing to bat first at home.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Stokes had opted to field first 10 times out of 12 home Tests before the ongoing fixture. Several fans trolled the English team for changing their approach after one defeat.

Here are some of the top reactions:

"Bazball feeling the heat? England is finding out they can’t chase down everything after all," wrote a fan.

"Stokes decides to bat first. Goes to show England aren't confident about their 4th innings chase anymore," commented another.

"England decided to bowl first. Bazball chase mastering went into London manholes," chimed in yet another.

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Jofra Archer returns to England's Test side after four years for ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

Both England and India made one change each to their playing XIs. Fast bowler Jofra Archer replaced Josh Tongue in the home team's lineup, while Prasidh Krishna made way for pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian XI.

Archer last played a Test in February 2021 during the away series against India. Bumrah, on the other hand, featured in the opening encounter of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

He bagged a five-wicket haul in the first innings and remained wicketless in the subsequent essay. The ace speedster was rested for the second Test.

Here are the two playing XIs for the Lord's Test:

ENG: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

IND: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj