Faced with seven minutes to survive after India matched England’s 387 all out, Zak Crawley stretched out Jasprit Bumrah’s over by delaying between the first four deliveries and then incurred his opponents’ wrath when he called for medical attention after being struck on the glove by the fifth.
As he rung his right hand, India’s fielders converged upon him with sarcastic claps while their captain Shubman Gill finger-wagged and verbally abused the England opening batsman.
The flashpoint spoke of the tension building in a series locked at 1-1. After Crawley watched the final ball fizz past the outside edge, completing the mission of reaching the close unscathed, he turned on his heel and headed for the Lord’s pavilion – accompanied by further words of wisdom from the Indian team.
It also injected some much needed life into a contest played at excruciatingly slow pace on an excruciatingly slow pitch. The 10 overs short on day three took the overall tally unused to 32 – more than a full session.
Crawley’s blow was the second of significance to an England player, with Shoaib Bashir set for an X-ray overnight on his left little finger after dropping a boot-high return chance offered to him by Ravindra Jadeja.
Ironically, Rishabh Pant’s own damaged digit, that has prevented him keeping wicket since the opening afternoon, took two further blows from the bowling of Ben Stokes, adding to the umpteen stoppages that punctuated the resumption of a match that India began on 145 for three.
In between, Pant hooked the first of two sixes to get to a half century from 86 balls, and was only denied a third when on 73, Crawley, England’s tallest fielder, pouched a catch in front of the Tavern Stand but threw the ball back into play.
That was the nearest England’s attack came to separating Pant and centurion KL Rahul and the breakthrough, when it finally materialised on the eve of lunch, was gift-wrapped by their opponents, hinging not on a bowling plan but a brilliant piece of fielding by their captain.
Pant had appeared to admonish Rahul for not putting away a loose delivery from off-spinner Bashir earlier in the over that would have taken him to three figures.
Instead, the resulting single left Pant on strike, creating a conundrum with the seconds ticking down to the interval: play each delivery on its merits or manufacture something to get his fourth-wicket partner back on strike.
Pant chose the latter, manipulating the ball into the off-side with a wristy push and indecisively setting off for a single. The hesitation proved decisive.
Stokes swooped from point and swivelled, instinctively pinning back leg-stump at the non-striker’s end in one motion, the blind shy defeating Pant’s half-hearted lunge.
It had unquestionably been India’s morning but Stokes’s intervention altered the dynamic.
Getting shot of Pant opened up an end for England to target, and Archer was drafted back into the attack, dispelling any concerns about whether his lengthy lay-off had diluted any of his natural pace, following up the pre-lunch gimme with the fastest spell of his Test career.
Across four early afternoon overs, the 2019 World Cup hero’s averaged 90.28 miles per hour, and hit 94, not only his fastest but the overall fastest delivery of the series.
Yet the wicket went not to the 30-year-old pace bowler at the nursery end, but off-spinner Bashir at the other, immediately after KL Rahul brought up his second Lord’s Test hundred and fifth against England.
In what was a rare lapse of concentration from Rahul, he neither committed to a positive nor defensive stroke, and paid for being caught between those two stools when a lackadaisical waft at his first delivery after celebrating a 176-ball century ended up in the hands of Harry Brook at slip.
Twenty-four hours after ending a four-year wait for a Test wicket, Archer created another gladiatorial spectacle, but failed to get his name back on the scorecard either in a stunning four over burst post lunch or after switching to the pavilion end to take the second new ball 45 minutes later.
In an afternoon session in which England struck just once, the closest they came to doubling their tally came through India’s chaotic running between the wickets – Ollie Pope, twice, and Ben Duckett spurning opportunities for direct hits.
They returned after tea without Bashir, who remained off the field, defying the weariness of their bodies to take the final five wickets for 61 runs.
Even then, luck was not always with them. During a seven-over spell, Stokes went past the edge repeatedly while Woakes twice won leg before decisions against Akash Deep in the over in which he accounted for Jadeja with a leg-side strangle only for both to overturned due to excessive movement off the seam taking the ball past leg-stump.
Crucially, though, they held their catches – wicketkeeper Jamie Smith celebrating his 25th birthday by ending Jadeja’s 72 with a fine grab down the leg side off Woakes and another dive at second slip by Brook, after Brydon Carse found the edge of Akash Deep, the picks.
Archer then wrapped things up by bouncing out Washington Sundar, setting up the tense finale in the process.
