Coming into the second day of the third Test of the ongoing series between England and India at Lord’s, the biggest concern for the Blue Brigade was Joe Root, who was stranded on unbeaten 99 runs overnight. If they had gotten a start on the new morning, it would have been incredibly hard for the Shubman Gill-led side to break his defense.

On the very first ball of the morning, Root went for a booming drive against Jasprit Bumrah as the ball flew through the gully region to help the right-handed batter enjoy his 37th Test century. However, the Ahmedabad-born came out with a firing reply to break the Yorkshire batter’s stumps on the second over as Joe Root had no clue other than getting an inside edge onto the stumps.

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“He has got a very unique technique. He delivers the ball differently from the other bowlers. And that’s the art of the game. He offers you a different challenge to the other bowlers, and you have to be good enough to find ways to counter, whether that’s defensively or attackingly, and for the larger portions of yesterday, I was able to do that quite nicely.” Root told the reporters at the end of the second day’s play.

WATCH: Joe Root reflects on how Jasprit Bumrah dismissed him at Lord’s

Root, however, pointed out how the Gujarat pacer used the second new hard ball against his defense, besides getting the two other wickets of Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes in the first 15 minutes of the second morning. “There is a delivery from the second new ball on a wicket that offers more with a harder ball. So, fair play to him. But, you know, that’s the art of the game. It’s about understanding when you can make an impact when you get your chance to open the game.” He responded.

Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Joe Root for the 11th time in Tests on Day 2 at Lord's. Root weighs in on another top spell by the number one bowler in the world 💬 pic.twitter.com/izAj2m1ty2

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 12, 2025

Bumrah, along with Stokes and Woakes, also went through Jofra Archer’s defense to earn his first five-wicket haul at Lord’s. He also overtook the former Indian captain, Kapil Dev, with the most five-wicket hauls for the country in away Tests.

As Root mentioned, the question now will be whether the home bowlers can replicate the same performance as Bumrah. India, at 145/3, are at a topsy-turvy position, and they can get a huge deficit by losing successive wickets on the early third morning.