After a humdinger-like conclusion to the third Test at Lord’s that the home team won by 22 runs to take a 2-1 lead, both teams will get an eight day breather before the fourth Test that starts at Old Trafford, Manchester on July 23. Hitherto, the two teams led by the experienced Ben Stokes and learning-the-captaincy trade, Shubman Gill, seem not to have given a quarter, but the home team, by virtue of having outsmarted the visitor at Lord’s has the edge in the five-Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Clearly, India will be hurt that it could not muster its resources to score a fourth innings target of under 200 with plenty of time and overs remaining. After a splendid work by its bowling department which took charge of the Test - after the teams were in a dead- heat like situation with scores of 387 in the first innings - India and its legions of fans would have expected a win, but all it could do was compete hard with left hander Ravindra Jadeja battling it out and remaining unbeaten for the team that went down.

The tour selection committee of which head coach Gautam Gambhir is a vital part, and the chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar, will mull over during the gap in order to pick the right personnel for the fourth Test. They have not come close to writing the name of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the team sheet. The chinaman bowler, the left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, opening batsman, Abhimanyu Easwaran have not got a look-in in the first three matches. Dhruv Jurel was a substitute for Rishabh Pant at Lord’s.

England made a winning start at Leeds scoring a big fourth innings target of 371 ( the home team made 373 for five) but was beaten hollow in the second at Edgbaston, before regaining the lead at Lord’s. Without a doubt a big change in the third Test was the return to Test cricket - after nearly four and a half years - by fast bowler Jofra Archer. The England captain Stokes and the head coach Brendon McCullum were keen to draft in Archer for the second Test, but under pressure not to rush him in, the fast bowler, who has suffered from the bowling-hand elbow and back injuries, was not considered at Edgbaston.

Jofra threw up far from spectacular numbers - 2 for 52 in 23.2 overs and 3 for 55 in 16 overs at Lord’s, but the most significant part of his undertaking was dispatching opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for 13 and 0 when India’s score was 13 and 5 in the two innings. Archer also got the vital wicket of Pant in the second innings on the fifth day first session. It was a breakthrough that perhaps ruled out an India win.

The second most important factor was the brilliant bowling by Stokes, who took five wickets — dismissing Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, K.L. Rahul, Akash Deep, and Jasprit Bumrah. He bowled 44 overs in the match, conceding 3.15 runs per over in the first innings and only 2 runs per over in the second. He kept his end tight. Stokes has already bowled 105 overs in the three Tests and taken 11 wickets; only six times in the 39 series he has played so far, has he bowled over 100 overs and this series is not yet done with two more to be played at Old Trafford and The Oval.

The ongoing series is the third instance he has taken the bowling responsibility. In the 2015-17 series he bowled 106.2 overs and in the 2018 series, he bowled 116.2 overs for 8 and 14 wickets. Stokes has taken 51 wickets against India in 24 Tests; 37 at home in ten Tests. He has proved effective so far with his variety - speed, bounce and tactics.

As the series moves forward, Stokes and a fit Archer will be a force and it can only augment with the potential return of fast bowler Mark Wood for the last Test at The Oval. England has taken 55 wickets at a high average, but Stokes and Archer’s numbers are 11 wickets at 29.45 and 5 wickets at 21.40.

India’s bowling department has been better taking 55 wickets at 36.05 with Bumrah being the best of the lot taking 12 wickets in two Tests at 21.00.

If India has to come back strongly, it has to fix its batting composition and it doesn’t appear anyone’s position is at stake, even Karun Nair’s, though he has made only 131 in six innings at 21.83. Perhaps the attitude and approach has to change from someone like Jaiswal who did not show common sense to stay put in the fourth day evening after India began its chase.

India’s opening wicket stands in three Tests is a low of 7.94 % to the team score; it has to improve. The fourth wicket aggregate between Pant and Rahul stands at a very impressive 44.74 % to the team score. India’s batting has looked good so far with three centuries and eight 50s as against England’s three centuries and as many 50s. The series has been touch and go for both teams. But England would fancy itself after the Lord’s show.