Root and Archer have big days for England as India hangs on in 3rd test at Lord's

LONDON (AP) — Joe Root followed his latest century with a record-setting catch and Jofra Archer made a wicket-taking return as England enjoyed the better of Day 2 of the third test against India at Lord's on Friday.

Replying to England's 387 all out, India was 145-3 and 242 runs behind at the home of cricket.

Resuming on 99, Root needed just one ball to reach triple figures for the 37th time in test matches. His 104, combined with late-innings half-centuries by Jamie Smith (51) and Brydon Carse (56), helped England post a very competitive total.

Jasprit Bumrah joined Root on the storied honors boards at the home of cricket by taking 5-74 on his return to the India team.

Archer then took center stage in his first test appearance in 4 1/2 years after a succession of injuries. The Barbados-born quick was handed the ball for the second over of India's reply and took a wicket with his third delivery, removing opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (13), before generating speeds of 93 mph (150 kph) — the quickest in this series.

Root took a low, one-handed grab down to his left at first slip to dismiss Karun Nair (40) for his 211th catch — a test record for an outfielder, breaking a tie with India great Rahul Dravid.

And India captain Shubman Gill, who made 430 runs just by himself in the second test won by the tourists to tie the series at 1-1, was snaffled for 16 before the close as wicketkeeper Jamie Smith — standing up to the stumps — took a fine catch off seamer Chris Woakes.

Lokesh Rahul was 53 not out and alongside Rishabh Pant (19), who is playing with an injury to the index finger on his left hand that was sustained while keeping wicket on Thursday.

Stranded on 99 overnight, Root said he could barely sleep.

“I went through every different shot I could have played to start the day,” he said, “and every possible dismissal I could have got out to.”

Root went for it first ball, reaching for Bumrah and sending a streaky cut shot for four to notch an eighth hundred at Lord’s — his favorite venue — and his 11th against India.

Root has struck centuries in each of his last three test innings at the home of cricket, a streak that takes in a match last year against Sri Lanka. He moved into outright fifth on the all-time list of most test centuries, breaking a tie with Steve Smith and Rahul Dravid, and was 14 behind India great Sachin Tendulkar.

Bumrah soon got his revenge. He nipped one back off the seam to remove the off-stump of England captain Ben Stokes (44), took out Root when the England star sent an inside-edge onto his own stumps, and then found the edge of Woakes’ (0) first ball.

Carse survived the hat-trick ball but Bumrah’s burst sent England sliding to 271-7 inside a half-hour of the morning session.

Carse and Smith, dropped on 5 by Rahul in the slips, counterattacked with an 84-run partnership to get England over 350 before Mohammed Siraj removed Smith and Carse, either side of Bumrah clean-bowling Archer (4) to seal his five-fer.

Having also dismissed Harry Brook through the gate on Thursday, Bumrah — rested for the second test won by India — bowled four batters in England’s innings.

There was a buzz around Lord's when Archer was handed the ball in his first test since February 2021, with the explosive pace bowler having worked so hard to get over his injury problems that threatened to derail his career.

He made an immediate impact, beating the bat of Yashasvi Jaiswal with his second ball and then enticing an edge to Harry Brook at second slip with his next.

“The noise, the pure joy that everyone has seeing him back in whites,” Root said. “It created a great atmosphere, him running in and getting a wicket in his first over. That’s the kind of player he is. He’s X-factor.”

Archer had two five-over bursts and figures of 1-22 off 10 overs.

Stokes struggled with a right groin problem while batting on Thursday, and was affected so badly that he refused a second single off the final ball of the day that would have given Root his century.

The allrounder was seen bowling before play on Friday and came out with Root for the start of play. He didn’t last long with the bat but bowled six overs and had 1-16.

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India's Jasprit Bumrah, left, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of England's Jofra Archer during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

India's Jasprit Bumrah shows the ball after taking five wicket during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

England's Jofra Archer bowls during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

England's Joe Root plays a shot to score hundred during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

England's Jofra Archer plays a shot during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

England's Joe Root walks off the field after losing his wicket during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

India's Jasprit Bumrah, middle, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

England's captain Ben Stokes, second left, congratulates Joe Root after scoring a century during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

A quarterback reportedly reneging on a lucrative deal to hit the transfer portal, only to return to his original school. Another starting QB, this one in the College Football Playoff, awaiting approval from the NCAA to play next season, an expensive NIL deal apparently hanging in the balance. A defensive star, sued by his former school after transferring, filing a lawsuit of his own.

It is easy to see why many observers say things are a mess in college football even amid a highly compelling postseason.

“It gets crazier and crazier. It really, really does,” said Sam Ehrlich, a Boise State legal studies professor who tracks litigation against the NCAA. He said he might have to add a new section for litigation against the NCAA stemming just from transfer portal issues.

“I think a guy signing a contract and then immediately deciding he wants to go to another school, that’s a kind of a new thing,” he said. “Not new kind of historically when you think about all the contract jumping that was going on in the ’60s and ’70s with the NBA. But it’s a new thing for college sports, that’s for sure.”

Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said late Thursday he will return to school for the 2026 season rather than enter the transfer portal, avoiding a potentially messy dispute amid reports the Huskies were prepared to pursue legal options to enforce Williams’ name, image and likeness contract.

Edge rusher Damon Wilson is looking to transfer after one season at Missouri, having been sued for damages by Georgia over his decision to leave the Bulldogs. He has countersued.

Then there is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who reportedly had a new NIL deal waiting while he asked the NCAA for approval to play another season after leading the Rebels to Thursday night's Collge Football Playoff semifinal against Miami. The NCAA a day after Miami's win denied his request.

On that Miami roster? Defensive back Xavier Lucas, whose transfer from Wisconsin led to a lawsuit from the Badgers, claiming he was improperly lured to Miami by NIL money. Lucas has played all season for the Hurricanes and now gets a chance at a national championship. The case is pending.

Court rulings have favored athletes of late, winning them not just millions in compensation but the ability to play immediately after transferring rather than have to sit out a year as once was the case. They can also discuss specific NIL compensation with schools and boosters before enrolling. Current court battles include players seeking to play longer, without lower-college seasons counting against their eligibility, and earning NIL money while doing it.

Ehrlich compared the situation to the labor upheaval professional leagues went through before finally settling on collective bargaining, which has been looked at as a potential solution by some in college sports over the past year. Athletes.org, a players association for college athletes, recently offered a 38-page proposal of what a labor deal could look like.

“I think NCAA is concerned, and rightfully so, that anything they try to do to tamp down this on their end is going to get shut down,” Ehrlich said. “Which is why really the only two solutions at this point are an act of Congress, which feels like an act of God at this point, or potentially collective bargaining, which has its own major, major challenges and roadblocks.”

The NCAA has been lobbying for years for limited antitrust protection to keep some kind of control over the new landscape — and to avoid more crippling lawsuits — but bills have gone nowhere in Congress.

Universities have long balked at the idea that their athletes are employees in some way. Schools would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation. And while private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state; virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.

Ehrlich noted the short careers for college athletes and wondered whether a union for collective bargaining is even possible.

To sports attorney Mit Winter, employment contracts may be the simplest solution.

“This isn’t something that’s novel to college sports,” said Winter, a former college basketball player who is now a sports attorney with Kennyhertz Perry. “Employment contracts are a huge part of college sports, it’s just novel for the athletes.”

Employment contracts for players could be written like those for coaches, he suggested, which would offer buyouts and prevent players from using the portal as a revolving door.

“The contracts that schools are entering into with athletes now, they can be enforced, but they cannot keep an athlete out of school because they’re not signing employment contracts where the school is getting the right to have the athlete play football for their school or basketball or whatever sport it is,” Winter said. “They’re just acquiring the right to be able to use the athlete’s NIL rights in various ways. So, a NIL agreement is not going to stop an athlete from transferring or going to play whatever sport it is that he or she plays at another school.”

There are challenges here, too, of course: Should all college athletes be treated as employees or just those in revenue-producing sports? Can all injured athletes seek workers' compensation and insurance protection? Could states start taxing athlete NIL earnings?

Winter noted a pending federal case against the NCAA could allow for athletes to be treated as employees more than they currently are.

“What’s going on in college athletics now is trying to create this new novel system where the athletes are basically treated like employees, look like employees, but we don’t want to call them employees,” Winter said. “We want to call them something else and say they’re not being paid for athletic services. They’re being paid for use of their NIL. So, then it creates new legal issues that have to be hashed out and addressed, which results in a bumpy and chaotic system when you’re trying to kind of create it from scratch.”

Employment contracts would not necessarily allow for uniform rules with an athlete able to go to transfer when terms have been met. Collective bargaining could include those guidelines.

“If the goal is to keep someone at a school for a certain defined period of time, it’s got to be employment contracts,” Winter said.

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Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) runs the ball during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)