Ben Stokes won the toss and invited India to bat for the third occasion in 4 outings. And as usual, the English bowlers were kept at bay by a resolute Indian opening pair of KL Rahul and Yashaswi Jaiswal. India has batted well at the top in the entire series, barring the second innings at Lord’s, and it can be safely said that in major parts of the series, the Indian top order has dominated England’s bowling attack.
KL Rahul missed a half-century by a whisker, but Jaiswal got his half ton after digging deep and surviving some testing bowling, particularly from Chris Woakes. He became only the second Indian opening batsman in 50 years to get a half-century at Old Trafford after Sunil Gavaskar had scored one in 1974. Jaiswal’s gritty knock came to an abrupt end as he nicked one from Liam Dawson to be caught by Brook at slip. It was Dawson’s first test wicket after 8 years. India had lost both openers quickly after lunch.
The wily Ben Stokes then produced one to nip back slightly off the seam. Indian captain Shubman Gill misjudged it completely, shouldered arms, but the ball came back, hit the knell roll, and Gill fell cheaply.
Pant and Sai Sudharsan batted beautifully to take back the advantage but Pant was hit on the foot attempting an audacious reverse sweep. A swollen lump was visible on the foot. Pant, unable to stand, was taken away injured. A bolt from the blue and unfortunate for Pant and India.
Sai Sudharsan got to his maiden fifty with a lovely cover drive. The talented southpaw played some attractive shots before mistiming a hook to be caught by Carse at fine leg. Ben Stokes, the war horse getting England a crucial breakthrough.
With light fading drastically, England were unable to take the new ball, and Jadeja, in the company of Shardul Thakur, remained unbeaten with India at 264/4 at Stumps.
A thrilling day of cricket beckons on day 2. England will take the new ball and will try to take quick wickets, while India will try and thwart the England bowlers to put up a sizeable score in the first innings.
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