England Pacer Leaves Squad Amidst Lord's Test

England and India are playing against each other in the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s. The Three Lions won the first match of the series at Headingley. The Men in Blue made a remarkable comeback in the second Test and won the match by a huge margin of 366 runs at Edgbaston.

Just a few minutes after the conclusion of the second Test, England announced a few inclusions in the squad as they brought their star pacer Gus Atkinson back into the team. Atkinson was a regular in England's teams across formats but was ruled out of the initial Tests of the IND vs ENG Test series due to injury.

Gus Atkinson Leaves IND vs ENG Test Series

The recent news has left fans scratching their heads. Gus Atkinson has been released from the England squad amid the ongoing third Test. He is now set to play for his childhood club, South London Club Spencer CC. Despite being brought back into the England Test squad, Atkinson couldn’t make it to the playing XI as Jofra Archer found a place, replacing Josh Tongue. Archer was supposed to be back in the playing XI in the second Test itself, but England decided to go with the same squad as they went with in the first Test.

That said, it’s the first time Atkinson will be playing for his childhood club since 2019. The star pacer made his debut for the national side in 2023 and also made an instant impact. However, a recent hamstring injury kept him away from the action for quite a while. But as he has recovered, he is set to be back on the field. He might not have made it to England’s playing XI against India, but he straightaway made it to the playing XI of his club.

His team will be playing against Sunbury CC, and the contest will take place at the Geoff Key Memorial Ground in Kempton, in the Premier Division of the Surrey Championship. Atkinson would like to get back to his rhythm and make a comeback in the team as soon as possible, maybe for the next England Test series.

Scores Tied After First Innings

As far as the ongoing third Test between India and England is concerned, the Ben Stokes-led team decided to bat first after winning the toss. On the back of Joe Root’s 37th Test hundred and crucial contributions from Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse, England managed to put up 387 runs in the first innings. India pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for the second Test, took a fifer in the first innings of the ongoing Test.

Coming to bat, India didn’t have a great start, losing young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for just 13 runs, courtesy of a magnificent delivery by Archer. However, KL Rahul and Karun Nair steadied the ship brilliantly, but captain Stokes brought his team back into the game by dismissing Nair for 40 runs. India captain Shubman Gill couldn’t make any impact, departing for just 16 runs, thanks to Smith’s brilliant catch behind the wickets.

Then came India’s crisis man, Rishabh Pant, who stitched a magnificent 131-run stand with Rahul, before getting run out on 74 runs. However, Rahul made sure to achieve the three-digit milestone, but he lost his focus just after smashing the century and threw his wicket just after lunch. Ravindra Jadeja, once again, played a top knock of 72 runs and saved India from a batting collapse.