LONDON, July 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat in the third Test against India at Lord's on Thursday.

Stokes had opted to field in the first two Test of this five-match series, with England winning the opener at Headingley by five wickets only to suffer a 336-run thrashing -- India's biggest away win in terms of runs -- at Edgbaston last week.

England had already named their side, making just the one change as they recalling fast bowler Jofra Archer after four years of injury-induced Test exile in place of Josh Tongue.

India also made a lone change, with outstanding paceman Jasprit Bumrah, the world's top-ranked Test bowler, returning after being deliberately rested at Edgbaston as Prasidh Krishna made way.

India captain Shubman Gill will look to continue his blistering start to the series having already scored a mammoth 585 runs at an average of 146.25, including 269 and 161 at Edgbaston, in his first four innings as a Test skipper.

Teams:

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wkt), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Sharfuddoula (BAN)

TV Umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)

Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)