India captain Shubman Gill lost the toss ahead of the third Test against England at Lord's on Thursday, July 10. The wrong call by Gill was the 13th consecutive time India had lost the toss in all men's internationals since January 31, 2025, setting a new record.
India broke the record that was held by West Indies, who lost 12 consecutive tosses between February 2, 1999 and April 21, 1999. England are third on the list, having lost 11 straight tosses between December 17, 2022 and March 12, 2023.
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss on Thursday and opted to bat first on a bright and sunny day in London. Both teams made one change to their playing XI. The hosts brought in Jofra Archer for Josh Tongue while the visitors brought in Jasprit Bumrah for Prasidh Krishna.
Gill said that he was unsure about what to do at the toss, but admitted that he might have bowled first had the toss gone in his favour.
"I was confused what to do till this morning. I would have bowled first. There would be something for the bowlers in the first session," Gill said on Thursday, July 10 (via Cricbuzz).
Nitish Kumar Reddy strikes twice after England get off to a sedate start at Lord's
The England opening pair of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley survived a testing early phase to get their side off to a sedate start. But things began to happen when Nitish Kumar Reddy removed both openers in the space of a ball in the 13th over.
The medium-pacer got Duckett caught behind with a ball down the leg-side for 23 and then dismissed Crawley with an excellent delivery that angled in and seamed away, two balls later, for 18. At the time of writing, England were 55/2 after 18 overs with Ollie Pope and Joe Root at the crease.
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