'Will try to hit India hard...': England captain Ben Stokes' major warning for Shubman Gill & Co. ahead of Lord's Test

The Shubman Gill-led Indian team recorded a massive 336-run victory over England at Edgbaston to level the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at 1-1. Gill was the star performer for the Men in Blue in the match, recording scores of 269 and 161 in the first and second inning respectively. He was assisted well by pacer Akash Deep, who picked up an impressive 10-wicket-haul in the match and played a key role in bundling out the hosts for 271 in the final inning as they failed to even come close to the 608-run target.

Stokes feels that both the sides are very equally matched

Ahead of the third Test at Lord's, England captain Ben Stokes admitted that both sides are quite equally matched when it comes to quality on the field and that is why the series hangs in the balance as of current.

"This was always going to be a series (in) which moments ebb and flow, the results were going to ebb and flow because there are two very good teams going at each other," Stokes said at the pre-match press-conference.

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However, Stokes also fired a major warning to the Men in Blue ahead of the third Test which is set to commence from July 10. He remarked that the Three Lions will try to hit the visitors hard in the third Test and emerge victorious, securing the lead in the series.

"We came out on top at Headingley, and they came out on top in the last game. When you have two good sides going at it against each other, you are going to see that. I don't think we feel like we have the edge over anyone. We respect our opposition, whoever that may be. We'll be coming out this week, trying to hit them hard and obviously trying to come away with a win," Stokes added.

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England also announced otheir playing XI for the third Test on Wednesday, They made one big change in the team, bringing Jofra Archer into the team after the seamer's over four-year absence from Test cricket. The 30-year-old replaced fellow pacer Josh Tongue from the playing XI. It will be interesting to see if this move will be able to benefit the hosts or not in the third Test.

England's playing XI for third Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.