The fabled Bazball made its first appearance in India on a sunny Thursday morning.
It began well enough in front of an excellent crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, with England’s daring opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett doing what they have been doing: attacking the new ball.
But the question was how Bazball would measure up to India’s famed spinning ball. Not too well was the answer.
The final session also saw India’s answer with the bat to Bazball, as captain Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal (76 batting, 70b, 9x4, 3x6) put on 80 off 74 balls for the opening wicket. All that made for a fine day of Test cricket.
India, after bowling England out for 246, finished the first day at 119 for one. The ball did turn, but Stokes showed with yet another captain’s knock of 70 (88b, 6x4, 3x6) that runs could be made against the formidable spin trio of R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Rollicking start
Earlier, Crawley and Duckett got going in some style. Crawley struck local lad Mohammed Siraj’s first two balls for fours on the on-side, and in the next over Duckett also hit successive boundaries against Jasprit Bumrah, on the off.
The first eight overs saw England racing to 41 for no loss, but the ninth over, bowled by Jadeja was a maiden, the first of the innings. A little later, his partner-in-crime for so many seasons, Ashwin, provided the breakthrough for India.
The off-spinner had Duckett lbw for 35 (39b, 7x4), as he beat the left-hander’s defensive bat and hit the front pad. The day also saw Ashwin and Jadeja going past Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh’s record of 501 Test wickets as India’s leading pair of bowlers.
After Jadeja made Ollie Pope edge to slip, Ashwin, in the very next over, dismissed Crawly, who fell to a fine low catch by Siraj at mid-off.
From 55 for no loss, England thus slid to 60 for three. But Jonny Bairstow (37, 58b, 5x4) and Joe Root (29, 60b, 1x4) added 61 for the fourth wicket before it was broken by a beautiful ball from Axar that turned and knocked off the former’s off stump.
Then Stokes played the kind of responsible innings he is known for. It was ended by a superb ball from Bumrah. The seamer cleaned up the English captain who was trying to make room for himself only to be outwitted by a delivery that moved away.
Then Jaiswal put on a magnificent show. He began with sending England’s lone seamer through square-leg for a four. In the next over, the left-handed opener welcomed left-arm spinner Tom Hartley to Test cricket with a slog-swept six and repeated the dose again in the over.
England could heave a sigh of relief when Rohit gave a catch to his counterpart Stokes after coming down the track to Jack Leach, but Jaiswal and Shubman Gill ensured there was no further damage before the stumps were drawn.
Brief Scores
England 1st innings: 246 all out in 64.3 overs (Ben Stokes 70; Ravindra Jadeja 3/88, R Ashwin 3/68).
India 1st innings: 119/1 in 23 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal batting 76).
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
England: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood and Jack Leach.
