ENG vs IND 3rd Test: England Playing XI for Lord’s Test announced

A day before the third match of the ENG vs IND Test series, the England cricket team unveiled its playing XI for the historic match to be held at Lord's.

After the crushing defeat in the Edgbaston Test against Team India, the England cricket team is looking quite restless and troubled. After such a bad defeat at home, Ben Stokes' team is hoping to take the lead in the series again.

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Archer made a comeback after 4 years

For this, captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have made a big decision. England has announced the playing XI for the ENG vs IND third match of the Test series starting on Thursday, July 10 at Lord's, and one change has been made in it. After a gap of 4 years, star fast bowler Jofra Archer returned to the Test playing 11.

After the defeat in the Edgbaston Test, it was believed that there would be a change in the playing XI, but there was curiosity about which player would return. Apart from Archer, England also had the option of Gus Atkinson. While Archer was returning to Test cricket after a long time, Atkinson was injured in the month of May and was recalled to the squad only for the Lord's Test.

The pair of Stokes and McCullum decided to give preference to Archer's fast speed and ability to get bounce for this test. With this, Archer is making a comeback in Test cricket after about 4 years and 5 months. Coincidentally, his last Test match was also against Team India, when he was part of the Ahmedabad Test in February 2021.

Tongue out of the Playing XI

The surprising thing is that the bowler in whose place Archer was selected in the playing XI has taken the most wickets in the ENG vs IND series so far. The English team has decided to exclude young pacer Josh Tongue from the Lord's Test.

Tongue has taken the most wickets in this series so far, 11. However, one reason for this is his lack of control over line length, due to which he was proving to be quite expensive.

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ENG vs IND 3rd Test at Lord's: England Playing XI 

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.