Having been left out of the last two Tests, Sudharsan responds with patient 61 off 151 balls after openers Jaiswal and KL Rahul share 94-run opening stand. India end Day One at 264-4. Jaiswal shed a run of three low scores with a measured fifty before becoming left-arm spinner Liam Dawson’s first Test victim in eight years
Sai Sudharsan during his 61 against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Wednesday. Pics/Getty Images
Shubman Gill lost a fourth consecutive toss and India were asked to bat first for the third time in four matches this series. Just as well, the Indian captain might say, because at the spin of the coin, he said he was ‘confused’ about what to do had he called right.
Ben Stokes’s decision to field on Wednesday had much to do with the overhead conditions at Old Trafford though ironically, just moments after he stuck India in, the sun won its battle with the clouds. But that was only a brief interlude. For most of Day One of the fourth Test, it was the clouds that held sway, forcing India’s top order to knuckle down and resort to old-fashioned Test match batsmanship. At stumps, India were 264-4.
Challenge for batters
Nothing illustrated the challenge that confronted the batters better than Yashasvi Jaiswal’s approach. Normally a dasher who loves to play his strokes, the left-handed opener was patience personified, though it helped that at the start of the day, whether by design or accident, KL Rahul faced a vast majority of the balls in Jofra Archer’s first spell. Archer had dismissed Jaiswal in both innings at Lord’s; this time, he bowled only five of his first 30 deliveries at his Rajasthan Royals teammate.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s bat is broken by a Chris Woakes delivery
Where Jaiswal was solid apart from the occasional play-and-miss routine against the luckless Chris Woakes, Rahul played his shots with freedom, surprisingly unafraid to hit in the air through vacant point when the England quicks pitched it short and wide. Around the odd moment of alarm, India made careful progress, keeping England wicketless in the first session that produced 78 runs.
Rahul perished in the fourth over after the break, Woakes finally rewarded for persistence as Harry Brook took an easy catch at third slip. That brought in Sai Sudharsan — one of three changes to the Lord’s XI — who endured a nervy start before blossoming to score an important maiden half-century and justify his inclusion at No. 3 ahead of Karun Nair before falling on the pull to the England captain.
Jaiswal shed a run of three low scores with a measured fifty before becoming left-arm spinner Liam Dawson’s first Test victim in eight years, while Gill’s mixed stay ended when he offered no stroke to Stokes and was trapped in front by an in-ducker, a terrible lapse in judgement. At 140-3, India were in strife, but Rishabh Pant struck up a very good partnership with Sudharsan, who had been dropped down leg by Jamie Smith off Stokes when on 20 just before Gill’s dismissal.
Pant injured
Pant alternated between the subdued and the adventurous on a pitch that didn’t facilitate free stroke-making, helping Sudharsan add 72 before attempting a reverse sweep off Woakes. England burned a review because Pant had hit the ball on to his right foot, but that came with severe repercussions. The stumper, who sustained a finger injury in his left hand on day one at Lord’s, left the ground in a buggy, the huge swelling just below his big toe indicating a potential fracture.
Four
No. of players in India’s squad born on December 6 — Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Karun Nair, Anshul Kamboj. Three are part of the playing XI in Manchester
Brief scores
India 264-4 (S Sudharsan 61, Y Jaiswal 58, KL Rahul 46, R Pant 37; Ben Stokes 2-47) vs England
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