The Lord’s crowd expected a Bazball blitz. Instead, they witnessed a crawl, and India’s captain Shubman Gill wasn’t going to let England get away without a gentle, if hilarious, ribbing.
On a day when Joe Root (99*) and Ben Stokes (39*) led a measured England recovery, the buzzword of English Test cricket -- Bazball -- seemed to have quietly exited the pavilion. With England managing just 70 runs in 24 overs during the second session on Day 1 of the third Test, the Indian skipper couldn’t resist a cheeky jab.
England’s scoring rate of 2.91 runs per over during the second session was the second-slowest in a home Test in the Bazball era, only behind their 2.72 per over effort against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2022.
'No more entertaining cricket, welcome back to the boring Test cricket boys,' Gill was heard quipping from the field, a comment that quickly made the rounds after broadcaster Star Sports shared the clip on social media platform X.
If Gill’s jibe wasn’t enough, Mohammed Siraj joined the banter brigade, caught by stump mics giving Joe Root an earful:
'Baz Baz Bazball. Come on, I want to see it!'
Root, unfazed by the taunt, marched steadily towards a century, playing the kind of innings that looked far removed from the Bazball brand of risk and reward.
While Root and Stokes remained unbeaten at stumps, having taken England to 251/4, the mood in the Indian camp was far from sombre. The Indians had struck in both the morning and final sessions -- with Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja all among the wickets.
© 2025