In the most recent edition of India vs England back and forth banter during the 3rd Test at Lord’s, Rishabh Pant and Ben Stokes had a bit of fun with their sledging in the middle. Pant and KL Rahul had frustrated the England bowlers during the lion’s share of the first session which brought out Stokes’ dig at them.
“Just batting for a draw?,” Stokes said to which Pant said,” Me?” as Stokes replied in the affirmative. That brought out Pant’s reply,” Same like you?” to which Stokes said, ” Yeah. Same like me bro. That’s me playing on Day 1.”
Stokes’ self-deprecatory dig was in response to the England batters’ slow batting on Day One which was totally against their infamous Bazball approach where they played an aggressive brand of cricket, come hell or high water.
When Rishabh-Panti meets Bazball, the banter flows as freely as the boundaries 👀#ENGvIND 👉 3rd TEST, DAY 3 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar 👉 https://t.co/YhqadvE3Be pic.twitter.com/wVXXjwPcSw
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 12, 2025
India skipper Shubman Gill had also poked fun at the hosts’ slow run rate on day 1, when after losing both their openers in Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, England went inside a shell as they brought up their 100 in 35.4 overs, their slowest in a home Test.
“No more entertaining cricket. Welcome back to the boring Test cricket, boys,” Gill sarcastically shouted as England’s run rate went down to under 3 at that juncture. They have since recovered with Joe Root scoring a 50 but their run rate is still a cause for concern, hovering around 3 per over.
A little bit later, Mohammed Siraj also tried to rattle Joe Root, saying “Where is the Bazball? Baz Baz Bazball, come on I want to see.”
On Saturday, Pant (74) was run out by Ben Stokes at the stroke of lunch. Resuming the day at 145 for three, overnight batters KL Rahul and Pant batted beautifully to keep the scoreboard moving at a good clip while reducing the deficit to 139 runs after bowling out England for 387 in their first innings.
Rahul played some lovely drives and flicks, but the standout shot was his backfoot punch square of the wicket off Brydon Carse, even as Pant brought up his fifty with a hooked six over deep fine leg off Ben Stokes.
