Left Arm Around

Yashasvi Jaiswal crunches a brutal 76 as India make a brilliant start in response to England’s 246 all out on day one of the first Test in Hyderabad.

India finished the day 119-1, trailing by 127 runs.

Jaiswal, 22, remains unbeaten on 76 and Shubman Gill is not out with 14.

With just one frontline seamer to choose from, England opted to open the bowling with Mark Wood and debutant spinner Tom Hartley.

Clipping a leg-stump delivery from Wood for four first ball, Jaiswal made his aggressive intentions clear and was keen to unsettle an inexperienced visiting England attack.

This was typified was by a terrific slog-sweep for six off Hartley’s first ball in Test cricket, followed by another sweep for a maximum later in the over.

Hartley continued to struggle as Jaiswal showed his full repertoire of shots, however Stokes was brave in keeping faith in the Lancashire left-armer.

The risk, however, did not pay off as Hartley’s nine overs cost an expensive 63 runs.

Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed also struggled on his return to the Test Side- his three overs costing 22 runs.

Rohit Sharma was the only man to fall for 24, Jack Leach dismissing him for the fifth time in Test cricket when Stokes pouched a smart catch at mid-on.

More worryingly for England, they also burned through all three of their reviews in a desperate attempt to claim key wickets and break into the Indian middle-order.

Earlier, the tourists began well after deciding to bat, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett combining for an aggressive yet composed opening stand of 55.

55-0 soon became 60-3 as Ravi Ashwin removed both openers and Ollie Pope perished to Ravindra Jadeja, but Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow were proactive in allowing England to rebuild and pick the gaps.

A fine partnership of 61 was only broken when a perfect Axar Patel delivery trimmed Bairstow’s off-stump, before Root followed soon after as a careless sweep off Jadeja nestled into the hands of Jasprit Bumrah at short-fine leg.

Ben Foakes joined them in the pavilion as he feathered behind to KS Bharat, while Rehan Ahmed was undone by a Bumrah slower delivery that stuck in the tacky surface and found the edge.

Tom Hartley endured a horror day with the ball but impressed with bat in hand, striking a quick-fire 23, but once again it was Stokes who would shepherd the tail and drag England out of murky waters to post something fairly competitive.

His magnificent knock of 70 in just 88 balls featured 6 fours and 3 sixes as England added an important 109 runs for the final four wickets, something which could be a crucial factor later on in the Test.

But for a magical ball that clattered into Stokes’ stumps and brought Bumrah a deserved second wicket, a ball Stokes himself clearly respected, one can only imagine the damage England’s captain could have inflicted.

For now, nonetheless, his attention turns to captaincy and picking his charges up from a difficult first day to make early inroads. To build some sort of pressure.

The pitch may be spinning but a question needs to be answered.

Do England have an attack that can exploit these conditions?

Allow Jaiswal to get going at your peril.

Because if he does, it could be a very very long day two…