Players from both India and England wore black armbands in memory of Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed away on Friday.
Both teams also observed a minute’s silence before the start of play at Lord’s on Sunday. England won the toss and elected to bat first in the series decider.
India made three changes to the team that lost in Cardiff, bringing in Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav for Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah.
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Bumrah was ruled out of the match due to an injury to his left knee in the second match on Thursday.
“Jasprit Bumrah had an impact injury on his left knee while fielding in the second ODI in Cardiff. He was not available for selection for the third ODI due to reactive swelling in his left knee,” a BCCI statement said.
#TeamIndia is wearing black armbands to pay tribute to West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers following his passing on Friday.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/cYXAWc40iT
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 19, 2026
KL Rahul, who missed the second ODI due to illness, also returned to India’s playing XI.
“We’re not the one who relies on stats so much. We think he’s a great bowler, and we were looking for four seamers on this ground. We have seen in the middle overs, spinners don’t really offer much as compared to the fast bowlers.”
“I think we were in a great position up until the 25 overs of the match, and then we lost too many wickets in the middle overs, end of the middle overs. So hopefully, if you’re in that kind of position, we post a good total close to 280-300. And then we have seen it’s not easy to score freely in the past couple of matches. So hopefully, if we are able to get good runs and put the team in a comfortable position,” India captain Shubman Gill said at the toss.
England also made one change to the side that won at Cardiff, bringing in Josh Tongue for Saqib Mahmood.
