Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bowl first; India made 359/3 at stumps on day 1.
Ben Stokes' choice to bowl first against India in the opening Test of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy at Headingley on Saturday, June 20, "staggered" former England captain Michael Vaughan. Vaughan believed that batting first was a "easy" decision on a dry surface with the sun blazing, but Stokes put history and statistics ahead of the scenario.
Stokes stated during the toss that he wished to take advantage of the conditions right away, while Indian skipper Shubman Gill also said that he would have opted to bowl first. However, following the early movement, the pitch quickly steadied, and the batters celebrated. Following Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) and KL Rahul (42) as other scorers, Gill scored 127* and Rishabh Pant 65*. At stumps, India was 359/3.
“I’m a bit of an old-school traditionalist here at Leeds that, when the sun shines, it’s quite an easy decision, particularly with the build-up to the Test match and it being so dry and so nice. I was staggered… when I heard he was going to bowl first. I thought, traditions have gone out the window,” Vaughan said on the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“I know England have won chasing here quite several times over the recent times, but you always have to pick your decisions on that moment: just because you’ve won a year ago, two years ago, or three years ago, it can’t really affect what the decision is today. And they’ve allowed India with a youngish batting line-up and a new captain to just go and play," he said.
Vaughan added that Stokes’ gut feeling’ didn’t work this time.
“You look at the suits of the England side and their strength, really, is in the batting. Ben just had a gut feeling, I guess, and in recent times it’s worked,” Vaughan said.
Ben Stokes took two wickets and Brydon Carse picked one scalp as England bowlers struggled against disciplined Indian batters.