India vs England: Spinners, Yashasvi Jaiswal help hosts gain early advantage on Day 1 of first Test

Team India dominated proceedings on Day 1 of the first Test against England at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, posting 119/1 after England were dismissed for 246 in the first innings after having opted to bat. The talk ahead of the Test series was around if England’s Bazball approach would work against the Indian spinners, and eventually it were the hosts’ spinners who had the last laugh. Ravichandran Ashwin (3/68), Ravindra Jadeja (3/88) and Axar Patel (2/33) combined to take eight of the 10 England wickets, with Jasprit Bumrah picking the other two.

Ben Stokes played a valiant knock of 70 before being dismissed by Bumrah, but none of the other batters could carry on like Stokes did. Zak Crawley (20) and Ben Duckett (35) provided a strong start for the visitors, forging a 55-run stand before the latter was dismissed by Ashwin. England headed to the lunch break with a score of 108/3 following the dismissals of Ollie Pope and Crawley. Soon after lunch, Joe Root (29) and Jonny Bairstow (37) then forged a 61-run stand for the fourth wicket. However, Bairstow’s dismissal was a blow for England, and not long after, Root was caught by Jasprit Bumrah at short fine leg after getting a top-edge off the bat off Jadeja’s bowling.

Stokes had his task cut out once he came out to bat following Bairstow’s dismissal, and the England skipper would go onto forge a 38-run stand with Tom Hartley before a 41-run partnership with Mark Wood. Stokes eventually brought up his 31st Test half-century off 69 deliveries. Despite wickets falling at the other end on a regular basis, Stokes stood firm with a battling knock before being castled by Bumrah in the 65th over as England were bundled out for 246 after tea.

In India’s first innings reply, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal then provided a brisk start for the hosts, with the duo forging an 80-run partnership for the first wicket. Amidst all the talk surrounding Bazball, it was the hosts, especially Jaiswal, who played a defining role with the bat on Thursday. Jaiswal took on Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed early on in India’s innings, playing some fine strokes against the duo. However, even before that Jaiswal looked clinical with his shots against the pacers. He began the innings with a boundary over square leg against Mark Wood before amassing a couple of sixes against Tom Hartley, the England debutant, in the second over.

Jaiswal would then once again hit Hartley for a couple of boundaries in the fourth over before England turned to the spinners towards the end of the day. Rohit Sharma (23), however, would get dismissed in the 13th over after going for a lofted drive. There wasn’t much execution from Rohit as he found Ben Stokes, back-pedalling from mid-on.

Shubman Gill (14*) then joined Jaiswal in the middle at number three, with the duo having forged 39 runs for the second wicket so far.