England raced to 55/0 in 8 overs after winning the toss in India vs England Test series opener at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal in the first hours of play. ‘Bazball’, anyone?
Well, India – in reply – in the final hour of day one’s play, blazed to the same score taking two deliveries less, and then went on to add another 64 runs in the next 82 deliveries. The young upstart Yashasvi Jaiswal was at the forefront of the assault clobbering a 47-ball fifty, eventually ending the day at unbeaten 76 off 70 balls. ‘Jazball’, anyone?
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India would eventually cut down the deficit to 127 runs scoring 119/1 at stumps on day one.
After their three spinners had accounted for eight wickets between them to halt England at 246, India took the top honours on the opening day courtesy of Jaiswal’s intent-filled knock.
For England, they started with the pace of Mark Wood at one end and the left-arm spin of debutant Tom Hartley whose first ball in Test cricket was dispatched disdainfully by Jaiswal towards the cow corner.
Hartley’s first over would go for 12 runs and he finished day one with forgettable figures off 9-0-63-0, including two no-balls.
Hartley would have felt that Test cricket is not for the faint-hearted.
Jaiswal went on to complete his second Test fifty, hitting eight boundaries (6x4s, 2x6s).
He added 80 runs in just 12.2 overs alongside his skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit started well with 24 off 27 before falling to a Jack Leach delivery.
Jaiswal continued to pick on Hartley and Leach to motor along nicely while helping India reduce the deficit.
Ben Stokes would also go on to lose all three of his reviews in the last session itself. The pace of Mark Wood was employed for all of two overs before Jaiswal started picking apart the spinners.
At the start of the day, a look at the scorecard after the first eight overs would have given the impression that England have indeed stuck to their guns and Bazballed their way in the first hour of play.
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The visitors, after winning the toss, had raced away to 41 for no loss with a run rate of 5.12 per over. Zak Crawley had made 16 off 22 hitting three fours while Ben Duckett scored 23 off 27 with five boundaries to his name.
But the fact of the matter was, even though both the England openers looked to be positive in their approach, it was anything but Bazball.
Mohammad Siraj, playing his first Test at his home ground, was wayward at best handing out freebies to both the openers early on.
After facing five deliveries from Jasprit Bumrah, Crawley got a gentle half-volley followed by another pitched-up delivery that was driven beautifully by the tall opener.
Duckett, at the other end, was quick to pounce on any width and flayed his opening boundary off Bumrah through backward point, followed by an off drive for four. By the end of eight overs, nine boundaries had been hit and none seemed forced.
But, a double change followed and eight overs later, England’s blazing start had been flagged down. From 55/0, England stuttered to 60/3 and then slumped to 137/6.
Parity was restored after the first hour of play with Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel claiming two wickets each and for a large part of the England innings, India were in control.
Jonny Bairstow’s breezy 37 off 58 was halted by a peach of a delivery from Patel that pitched on leg only to deviate from over the wicket angle to leave the off stump rattled, and the batter flummoxed.
That ended a stand of 61 runs between Bairstow and Joe Root much to the relief of the sizeable home crowd who had packed day one at the stadium.
Root, off his second delivery, attempted a paddle sweep making his intentions of scoring runs very much apparent. During the stand even though Jadeja and Ashwin were primarily disciplined, the duo looked at ease. For all the talks about spinning pitches, the one at Uppal offered even bounce and only a bit of turn in the opening two sessions.
The first wicket to fall, that of Duckett was the one that did not turn. The left-hander played for the spin when there was none and it skidded through beating the inside edge.
Ollie Pope, back from a shoulder injury, was superbly set up by Jadeja with the one that straightened after pitching as the batter lunged forward, trying to fetch one. Crawley, who had looked better of the lot probably could have curbed his enthusiasm to shimmy down the track, but he did only to gift his wicket way – caught superbly at mid-off. England lost three wickets for just five runs before Root and Bairstow started rebuilding.
Root’s wicket though was the big one. Once again Jadeja, after being swept away by Root off a slightly fuller delivery, drew back his length and the former skipper top-edged his sweep to Bumrah at short fine.
The onus was on Stokes to push England’s total to at least 250, but with wickets falling at the other end, England seemed to be going down the barrel before the skipper found his range and chanced his arms in the company of Mark Wood.
A slog sweep for six off Ashwin in the 54th over was followed by three fours in an over of Jadeja.
Stokes then rode his luck with wicketkeeper KS Bharat dropping a catch of his in the 60th over and he celebrated that with two more big hits off Jadeja as England closed in on 250.
Eventually, England fell short by four runs with Bumrah cleaning up Stokes with a brute of a delivery on 70. Jadeja (3/88), Ashwin (3/68) and Axar (2/33) ended with eight wickets between them. The combo of Jadeja and Ashwin also became the most successful wicket-taking pair for India in Tests, claiming 503 wickets between them in 50 Tests, surpassing Anil Kumble-Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 501 in 54 Tests.
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