India and England create rare Test record in the 3rd Test at Lord's

KL Rahul's second Lord's Test century helped India level England's 387 in the first innings on Day 3 of the third Test, marking only the ninth instance in Test history that both teams have posted identical scores in their first innings.

The total has now become the fifth-highest total of such a rare instance, and each of the four higher ones ended in a draw.

The previous instances of higher identical totals are:

• England and West Indies both scoring 593 at St John’s in April 1994
  
• West Indies and Australia both making 428 at Kingston in February 1973
  
• New Zealand and Pakistan both scoring 402 at Auckland in February 1973
  
• India and England matching 390 at Birmingham in July 1986

India's 387 runs were hard earned and came with disciplined batting. Rahul scored 100 off 177 balls, becoming only the second Indian after Dilip Vengsarkar to score multiple centuries at Lord’s. Rishabh Pant added 74 brisk runs, battling a painful finger injury, while Ravindra Jadeja contributed 72 in composed manner.

India's lower order managed to hang around but scored at a slow rate on a sluggish surface is beginning to misbehave. With uneven bounce and some turn on offer, the challenge of batting last looms large.

Drama to end the day

Once India were bowled out England batted one drama-filled over before stumps on Day 3. With six minutes left for stumps, India wanted to slip in at least a couple of overs against England and create pressure on openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.

Jasprit Bumrah took the new ball to rattle the openers and tested Cawley with his variations. However, after the second ball of the over, Bumrah was frustrated as Crawley possibly wasted time. The batter simply moved away half way through Bumrah's run-up.

India captain Shubman Gill, who was in the slips cordon, stepped in with a few words for the England batter. Soon, other Indian players joined the chatter.

On the fifth delivery, Crawley was hit on the glove while attempting a defence and the physio had to attend to him. The reaction was met by sarcastic applause from the Indian players, who ganged up against the opener in unision.

Gill ran towards Crawley and made a gesture towards the pavilion. The English opener had a few words to say to the Indian captain, while his partner Duckett intervened and exchanged a few words too.

On the final delivery, Bumrah bowled a ripper without any success to bring an end to an absorbing day of cricket.