Ben Stokes won’t take Edgbaston defeat kindly; Jofra Archer, spicy Lord’s will present India, Gill its first real test

As India faces England at Lord's, they are aware of the challenges posed by Jofra Archer and the unique pitch conditions. Despite this, they remain confident.

Pitch-making isn’t an exact science, no matter what the experts might say. There are so many variables, not least the weather, which can thwart the best of designs. It’s possible to predict how a surface will pan out to a certain degree, but to second-guess exactly what it will throw up is an exercise in futility.

England's captain Ben Stokes (AFP)

There was a certain predictability to pitches in England in the past, which tended to assist the quicker bowlers more than anywhere else in the world, especially during the early stages of a Test. There is a certain uniformity now too, but that translates to minimal wear-and-tear as the game unfolds so that it can assist and encourage the home side to keep portraying the brand of batsmanship that has become its calling card in the last three years.

A series of chastening defeats under Joe Root, culminating in a stunning loss in the Caribbean in 2022, forced a seismic shake-up with Ben Stokes coming in as captain and Brendon McCullum taking over as head coach. In a calculated gamble, the dynamic duo threw conventional wisdom out the window and embarked on an aggressive, exciting template that revolved around being fearless and uninhibited with the bat, even if it meant the bowlers had to toil a lot harder.

In 2023 after the first Ashes Test in Birmingham, James Anderson called the Edgbaston pitch his ‘kryptonite’, lamenting his absolute helplessness on a ‘road’. As accomplished as the world’s most prolific paceman was, he was defeated by the placidity of the surface, a trait integral to the revamped English batting approach.

Having lived by the philosophy of batting beauties that get better for batting – contrary to traditional mores – as the match wears on, England died by it at Edgbaston last week. The surface for the second Test didn’t deteriorate alarmingly but by day five, there was enough for Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin from the bowlers’ footmarks for the hosts to bemoan that the track suited the visitors more than it did the home side. Of course, it was conveniently forgotten that England had put themselves in that predicament by fielding first because of their love for chasing.

News filtering through from the English camp is that they want a deck with more pace and carry to hustle the Indian top order, firing on all cylinders with skipper Shubman Gill alone scoring 585 runs in four innings. McCullum is said to have requested Lord’s curator Karl McDermott for a surface with ‘a bit more pace, a bit more bounce, and maybe a little bit of sideways (movement).’

A casual first look from afar at the 22-yard surface on Tuesday confirmed a more intense covering of grass than at Headingley or Edgbaston, but curators generally lop off some of the grass the day before the game, so it remains to be seen how the surface looks at the toss on Tuesday. As for how it behaves, only time will tell. As many as 14 wickets fell on each of the first two days of the World Test Championship final last month before the surface settled into a flat beauty and South Africa hunted down a target of 282 set by Australia with ease.

Why playing at Lord's is not easy for first-timers

The slope at Lord’s – eight feet two inches from right to left as one looks on from the ‘spaceship’ press box – adds a unique dimension which can throw batters and bowlers who are not used to it off kilter. India are packed with players who haven’t played here previously, and who also haven’t had a taste of Jofra Archer, scheduled to return to Test cricket after four years on the sidelines.

It was at Lord’s that the loose-limbed right-arm paceman cut his teeth in Test cricket in August 2019, immediately making an impression with a sickening blow to the back of Steve Smith’s head courtesy a mean bouncer, but injuries have restricted his Test career to only 13 appearances. The 30-year-old is an immense threat but it’s worth remembering that a couple of weeks back when he played for Sussex against Durham, it was his first first-class outing since May 2021. Archer will make demands of India’s batters that Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue couldn’t in the first two Tests, but how long he can sustain his intensity, given his limited experience of red-ball action in recent times, remains to be seen.

India’s batting is in a good place currently with seven centuries in the first two Tests and a lowest total in four innings of 364. They will be wary of what Archer brings, of the Lord’s slope and the prospect of a more juiced-up surface, but they know they have the skills and temperament to cope with them all as they brace for what in all likelihood will be a half-throwback to Test match batsmanship in England as it used to be.