Former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra took a jibe at Ben Stokes and Co after England scored just 251 runs on Day 1 of the third Test against India at Lord's.

Under the leadership of Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England's Test cricket team has undergone a significant transformation, adopting a highly aggressive approach known as "Bazball."

However, Thursday’s batting display was totally different to their adopted method. In fact, the run date of 3.02 was the slowest for England since McCullum took over as head coach back in 2022.

“Where is the Bazball, sir? There used to be a thing called Bazball, where is it nowadays? It's being said that it's lost somewhere in St John's Wood, because you played the entire day and scored only 250 runs," Chopra said during his analysis on YouTube.

“This was Joe Root's slowest half-century in the Bazball era. Ever since the era started, he had started hitting, and many times we asked the question why he was in such a hurry. Let others play as they want, but Joe Root is like the root of a tree. So, he too realized that he hadn't scored runs in the first two matches and that he would bat respectfully now," Chopra added.

Invited to bat first, England lost both openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, in the 14th over to Nitish Kumar Reddy before Joe Root and Ollie Pope stabilized the innings.

While Pope was dismissed for 44, Root ended the day on 99 not out off 191 balls. At the close of play, Stokes was at the other end on 39* off 102 balls.

Meanwhile, England are sweating over the fitness of Ben Stokes ahead of the second day’s play at Lord’s.

Stokes pulled up with what appeared to be a groin issue late on Thursday (July 10). The all-rounder received on-field treatment before he batted on until stumps.

Addressing the media after the day’s play, England vice-captain Ollie Pope kept his fingers crossed for the all-rounder, with the five-Test series currently tied at 1-1.

“Fingers crossed he can do something magic and come back strong. Clearly we've got a big Test over the next four days and a big two coming up. It's important to try to manage him.

"One of my roles is to make sure he doesn't push himself to a ridiculous place. I'm sure the physios and medics will work with him to lay out a plan and I'll help push him in the right direction,” said Pope in the post-day presser.

(With IANS Inputs)