London, July 10 (IANS) Legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar rang the iconic five-minute bell to begin day one of the Lord’s Test between India and England on Thursday. The five-match series, being played for the trophy named after Tendulkar and James Anderson, is level at 1-1. Tendulkar, accompanied by his wife Anjali, waved to the crowd at Lord’s before doing a namaste and ringing the bell to kickstart the proceedings in a crucial game for both teams. He was later spotted talking to former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The ringing of the bell by cricketing legends outside the bowlers’ bar at Lord’s is a tradition started in 2007 and has been previously carried out by legendary Indian players like Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) had earlier said Tendulkar would ring the bell for the first time at Lord’s on the same day his portrait by artist Stuart Pearson Wright was unveiled in the MCC Museum. MCC later said Tendulkar’s portrait, painted by British artist Stuart Pearson Wright, will remain in the museum before being moved to the Pavilion later this year.

Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket in 2013, is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time. The Mumbai-based right-handed batter scored 34,357 international runs across all three formats—over 6,000 more than the next highest, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara. Coming to the game at Lord’s, both India and England are welcoming back Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer. After four years of absence from Test cricket due to injuries to back and elbow, Archer will make his long-awaited return to the longer format for England by replacing Josh Tongue in the playing eleven. For India, fast-bowling spearhead Bumrah is back into the playing eleven in place of Prasidh Krishna.