LONDON — One of India's greatest adversaries showed up at Lord's and gave England the edge on the first day of the third test on Thursday.
As England's best batter, Joe Root has had a middling impact on the tied test series so far. But grafting for more than five hours on a roasting pitch earned him an unbeaten 99 that was easily beaconed in a total of 251-4 at stumps.
Root fought for almost the entire first day to vindicate captain Ben Stokes' decision to bat first. Stokes was with him at stumps, on 39, but struggling with a groin or adductor issue that may affect whether he bowls. He had a chance in the last over to run a second single to give Root his century but declined.
Root's grit typified an approach by England that was more caution than aggression, unconventional in the team's three years under coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes, the so-called ''Bazball'' era.
''Slightly different to the way we usually put together an innings but we'll take it,'' batter Ollie Pope told the BBC. ''We want to be a team that is positive and entertaining but we want to play to the situation. Our order is pretty fast scoring on our good days, we all know we can score hundreds off 120 balls, but we need to dig in off this sort of surface.''
Despite hardly a cloud in the sky over Lord's, usually a template for a great batting day, England displayed its slowest scoring in the first session of a test, and reached 100 at its second slowest pace under Bazball. The run rate dropped to 2.75 in the afternoon.
India's fearsome pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj squeezed the scoring, India's fielding was tight, and the green-tinged pitch became sluggish enough for spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to bowl 20 of the day's 83 overs and take one wicket.
Root was slow but steadfast without offering India a single chance.