England and India battled on day one of the third Test of the five-match Pataudi Trophy at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. England came into this game with a lead of 2-0 and India desperate to win in order to stay alive in the series.
Joe Root won the toss and chose to field first on a pitch that was looking like a batting paradise. England has made just one change, bringing in all-rounder Ben Stokes in place of Sam Curran, who can count himself unfortunate to miss out.
India, on the other hand, expectedly made changes- bringing in Shikhar Dhawan in place of M Vijay, who had bagged a pair at Lord’s, Rishabh Pant made his Test debut and in what was a very good news for the team and the fans, Jasprit Bumrah replaced Kuldeep Yadav.
After a while, the Indian openers looked dominating against James Anderson and Stuart Broad; as the England quick bowlers missed the overcast conditions that they got at Lord’s. Dhawan (35, 7x4s) and Rahul (23, 4x4s) both looked good with the bat and hit some very good shots.
They added 60 runs for the first wicket but became victims of Chris Woakes, who had Dhawan caught by Buttler and had Rahul out LBW.
Cheteshwar Pujara looked fidgety for his 14 runs and fell to a catch by Adil Rashid, in what was a pretty clear leg trap for a hook shot and Pujara obliged and gave Woakes his third wicket of the day and India were 82/3.
Then came the partnership of the day for India, as Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli took the attack to England bowlers. The duo added 159 runs in 40 overs and the England bowlers looked hapless once the Dukes ball became old and a flat pitch put a spanner in England’s plans.
Rahane was looking good for a century when Alastair Cook took a brilliant one-handed catch off Broad and sent Rahane back for 81 runs in 131 balls with 12 fours to his name.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli, however, kept going like he does and reached 97 when he decided to play an adventurous shot off Adil Rashid to give him his first wicket of the innings. Virat hit 11 fours in his innings and deserved a hundred here.
In came the debutant Rishabh Pant, who sent the second ball he faced in Test cricket for a six; becoming the first Indian to score his first runs in Tests in this manner.
Hardik Pandya and Pant tried to keep the Indian innings safe until the end of the day. However, at the fag end of the day, Anderson produced a beauty to remove Pandya for 18 runs and this left India 307/6 on day one.
BRIEF SCORES:
INDIA 307/6 (V KOHLI 97; C WOAKES 3/75)
