HYDERABAD: England stand at 108/3 against India after the end of the first session at lunch break in the first Test match on Thursday. At lunch break, England were at 108/3, with Jonny Bairstow (32*) and Joe Root (18*) on the crease.
After winning the toss, the visitors decided to bat first in Hyderabad and Ben Stokes’ decision did go in their favour as they crossed the 100-run mark in the 26th over.
Zak Crawley (20 runs from 40 balls) and Ben Duckett (35 runs from 39 balls) opened for England and put the visitors to a good start after they made a solid partnership of 55 runs. Crawley slammed three fours. Meanwhile, Duckett smashed seven fours.
However, star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made the first breakthrough of the game after he dismissed Duckett in the 12th over.
The second wicket came when Ravindra Jadeja removed Ollie Pope (1 run from 11 balls) in the 15th over. Pope failed to make a mark in the game and put England in a better position. The third wicket came soon in the 16th over after Ashwin dismissed the English opener, Crawley.
However, later in the first session, India failed to make the 48/-run partnership of Root and Bairstow. As of now, Root slammed just one four. On the other hand, Bairstow smashed five fours to make feel of England’s ‘Bazball’.
With two wickets on his account, Ashwin leads the Indian bowling attack. Meanwhile, Jadeja picked up one wicket. Indian pacers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are yet to get their first wicket.
The spin pair of Jadeja and Ashwin reached a unique landmark after they picked up 502 wickets together, passing the previous record held by Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who had 501 wickets in 54 matches.
Brief score: England 108/3 (Joe Root 18*, Jonny Bairstow 32*, Ben Duckett 35; Ravichandran Ashwin 2-20, Ravindra Jadeja 1-34) vs India. (ANI)