WTC 25-27 ENG vs IND Test-3 Lord's 2026: Day-1 Session Preview

The first ball at Lord's lands at 11:00am BST. The toss happens half an hour earlier, on the outfield in front of the Pavilion, with the two captains facing the Members' Stand and the late-summer English sun behind them. Test-3 of the India tour of England 2026 is the central fixture of the series — the home Test at the home of cricket, with the Dukes ball, the Lord's slope, and an English August morning that has historically been swing-friendly. India arrive after the Day-1 session at Headingley opened the series. The Lord's Test is where the cycle's shape often firms up.

This is the Day-1 preview — the session schedule, probable XIs, the Lord's pitch and slope reads, and the broadcast and ticket reality.

Day-1 session schedule

English summer Tests run on BST (UTC+1). The 11am first ball is the standard ECB Test format.

Session	Local (BST)	IST	AEST	NZDT
Toss	10:30	15:00	19:30	21:30
First ball	11:00	15:30	20:00	22:00
Lunch	13:00	17:30	22:00	00:00 (+1)
Resume	13:40	18:10	22:40	00:40 (+1)
Tea	15:40	20:10	00:40 (+1)	02:40 (+1)
Resume	16:00	20:30	01:00 (+1)	03:00 (+1)
Stumps	18:00	22:30	03:00 (+1)	05:00 (+1)

The IST 15:30 first ball is comfortable post-work viewing for Indian audiences. The whole Day 1 lands inside the IST evening-and-night viewing window.

The Lord's slope

The famous Lord's slope runs eight feet across the ground from the Grand Stand to the Tavern Stand. The slope changes the line bowlers have to bowl from each end. From the Pavilion End, the ball drifts down the slope toward leg stump. From the Nursery End, it drifts up the slope toward off stump. England's seamers, who play more Lord's Tests than visiting bowlers, typically extract more from the slope than their guests do.

Slope-by-end summary

End	Slope direction	Bowler advantage	Batter risk
Pavilion End	Drifts toward leg stump	Right-arm into LH batter	Right-handed batters get more shape into pads
Nursery End	Drifts toward off stump	Right-arm away from RH batter	Right-handed batters get away-shape

Indian bowlers have, historically, taken longer than their English counterparts to find rhythm with the slope. The Test-3 plan is whether the Indian quicks have adjusted between Headingley and Lord's.

Probable XIs

England probable XI

England's settled XI for the home Tests is built around the Bazball top order, with Joe Root at three. Mark Wood's pace, Chris Woakes' swing, and Shoaib Bashir's off-spin form the bowling unit.

Probable XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir.

India probable XI

India's XI carries forward from Headingley, with the rotation question on Mohammed Siraj versus Akash Deep at second seamer.

Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep.

The captain's call between Siraj and Akash Deep depends on the workload from Test 1 and 2. If Siraj has bowled heavy spells in the first two Tests, Akash Deep is the rotation option.

Toss reading

Lord's Tests in August have, in recent cycles, rewarded captains who win the toss and bowl first. The morning swing under cloud cover is the central tactical variable. England's Bazball captaincy has, however, sometimes overridden the toss-and-bowl-first instinct in favour of setting up a high first-innings score.

Toss outcome	Likely call
Stokes wins	Conditions-dependent (bowl if cloudy, bat if clear)
Rohit wins	Bowl first if cloud cover

The Stokes captaincy adds a wildcard. The Bazball philosophy has produced bat-first calls under conditions where every other captain in modern Test cricket would have bowled.

Weather forecast

London in mid-August averages 21-25 Celsius daytime highs. Cloud cover is variable. There is a meaningful summer-shower probability across any given day — typically 25-30 percent.

Time (BST)	Temp (deg C, expected)	Wind (km/h, expected)	Cloud
11:00	19	12	Variable
14:00	23	14	Cloud breaks
17:00	22	16	Variable

The variable cloud is the key bowling factor. When the cloud comes over, the Dukes ball swings hoops. When it breaks, the swing reduces. The captain's spell management around cloud cycles often decides Day-1 sessions.

Broadcast

Region	Broadcaster (expected)
UK	Sky Sports / TalkSport (radio)
India	Sony Sports / FanCode
Australia	Fox Cricket / Kayo
New Zealand	Sky Sport NZ
ROW	ICC.tv (sub-licensed)

The IST 15:30 first ball is comfortable for Indian audiences.

Tickets

Lord's tickets are the most expensive in international cricket, but the venue's ballot system has historically given travelling fans a reasonable chance of access on the cheaper tiers. Indicative pricing, until the ECB confirms:

Tier	Day-1 (GBP)
Compton/Edrich (general)	80-130
Mound Stand	130-180
Pavilion (Members)	200-350 (Members only)
Hospitality	400-800

Lord's ballot opens roughly 6 months before the Test. Walk-up Day-1 tickets are extremely rare for IND Tests. We do not link to ticketing pages until they are live and verified.

Logistics for travelling fans

Lord's is a 25-minute drive from London Heathrow. The St John's Wood tube station (Jubilee Line) is a 5-minute walk to the ground. Hotels in St John's Wood, Marylebone, and Maida Vale are within walking distance. The matchday traffic plan around Wellington Road is well-established.

For the hotel-cluster planning around the wider tour, Lord's is the easiest of the five Test venues for travelling fans. The London transport network handles the matchday crowd cleanly.

What the Test means for the cycle

Test-3 sits inside the WTC 25-27 cycle's late-cycle mace race. The result has direct implications for the standings. India's win-percentage in the cycle is sensitive to the result. England's position, after their late-cycle home build, is similarly sensitive.

Squad-watch storylines for Day 1

Three things to watch. First: India's second-seamer rotation between Siraj and Akash Deep. Second: Joe Root vs Bumrah at the famous Lord's slope. Third: Shoaib Bashir's deployment as the lone front-line spinner — overs given by Bashir on a Day-1 surface that typically rewards seam.

The first ball at 11am will tell us a lot. The Lord's slope will tell us more.