HYDERABAD: Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal led India’s charging reply to England’s 246, which had been driven by captain Ben Stokes’ half-century on an all-attacking opening day of the first Test on Thursday.

The hosts were 119-1 at stumps in Hyderabad and trailing England by 127 runs, with skipper Rohit Sharma (24) the sole wicket.

Jaiswal, on 76 off 70 balls, and Shubman Gill, on 14, were batting at the close of play.

Left-hander Jaiswal reached his fifty in 47 balls with a boundary off debutant Tom Hartley, whose bruising introduction to Test cricket saw him leak 63 runs from nine overs.

Sharma walked back dejected after mistiming a shot off left-arm spinner Jack Leach, with Stokes completing the catch in the deep.

Stokes top-scored with 70 after the visitors opted to bat first, sticking to their ultra-attacking “Bazball” strategy to counter India’s renowned home-turf spin prowess.

“Stokesy’s knock, to get us to where we were, was fantastic,” opener Ben Duckett told reporters.

He added that the visitors had finished their innings “over par” on a difficult pitch that was likely to get more unruly.

“Come day three, day four that could be a match-winning knock if the pitch keeps getting harder to bat on,” he said.

For the first time in a men’s Test, England went into the match with a lone fast bowler in Mark Wood, opting for a spin-heavy attack instead, which included Hartley.

India resisted any such temptation and retained seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, perhaps knowing a three-pronged spin attack could get the job done.

That trust was not misplaced as their spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel claimed eight of the 10 English wickets.

While the pitch provided significant turn, England’s frontline batters were guilty of not converting starts following Stokes’ decision to bat on a dry wicket.

Ben Duckett (35) and Zak Crawley (20) batted with the kind of aggression that has become the hallmark of the Stokes-led side during their opening stand of 55.

But Sharma turned the match on its head by introducing spin from both ends after the first eight overs.

Ashwin (3-68) trapped Duckett lbw with a ball that did not turn and Jadeja (3-88) had Ollie Pope (one) caught by Sharma at first slip.

Crawley charged out against Ashwin only to drill the ball to Siraj at mid-off, where the fielder took a low, tumbling catch.

Jonny Bairstow (37) and Joe Root (29) added 61 runs for the fourth wicket but India wrested back control after lunch.

Left-arm spinner Patel drew Bairstow forward with a delivery that spun just enough to beat the bat and hit the off-stump.

Root attempted a sweep against Jadeja and ended up top-edging the ball to Bumrah at short fine leg.

England slumped to 155-7 but Stokes counter-attacked even though a boisterous 24,000 crowd egged on India, who have not lost a test series on home soil since 2012.

Playing his first international match since knee surgery in November, Stokes smashed Jadeja for back-to-back sixes bringing up his fifty in 69 balls.

Bumrah (2-28) returned to breach Stokes’ defence and hasten England’s collapse.

Hartley shared the new ball with Wood and Jaiswal welcomed the spinner by hitting his first ball in international cricket for a six, a treatment the opener would repeat four balls later.

Patel said his side were happy to hold the tourists to their total, adding that the pitch had yet to turn in favour of bowlers.

“It’s a bit challenging for the batsman, but if you play well, you can score runs,” he said. “For bowlers it’s a challenge,” he added. “If you miss your line and length then runs will come easy.”

The start of India’s innings witnessed a security breach when a fan barged onto the pitch to touch Rohit’s feet before being hauled away by security.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

Z. Crawley c Siraj b Ashwin 20

B. Duckett lbw b Ashwin 35

O. Pope c Sharma b Jadeja 1

J. Root c Bumrah b Jadeja 29

J. Bairstow b Axar 37

B. Stokes b Bumrah 70

B. Foakes c Bharat b Patel 4

R. Ahmed c Bharat b Bumrah 13

T. Hartley b Jadeja 23

M. Wood b Ashwin 11

J. Leach not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-2) 3

TOTAL (all out, 64.3 overs) 246

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-55 (Duckett), 2-58 (Pope), 3-60 (Crawley), 4-121 (Bairstow), 5-125 (Root), 6-137 (Foakes), 7-155 (Ahmed), 8-193 (Hartley), 9-234 (Wood)

BOWLING: Bumrah 8.3-1-28-2, Siraj 4-0-28-0 (1nb), Jadeja 18-4-88-3 (1nb), Ashwin 21-1-68-3, Axar 13-1-33-2

INDIA (1st Innings):

Y. Jaiswal not out 76

R. Sharma c Stokes b Leach 24

S. Gill not out 14

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2, NB-2) 5

TOTAL (for one wicket, 23 overs) 119

STILL TO BAT: S. Iyer, KL Rahul, K.S. Bharat, R. Jadeja, A. Patel, R. Ashwin, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-80 (Sharma)

BOWLING: Wood 2-0-9-0 (2w), Hartley 9-0-63-0 (2nb), Leach 9-2-24-1, Ahmed 3-0-22-0

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2024