India vs England Live Score, 1st Test Day 1: England captain Ben Stokes has won the toss and chosen to bat first in Hyderabad. Openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley came out as aggressive as ever as they smashed Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj all around the ground in the first 10 overs. However, India came roaring into the game once the spinners came on. Ravichandran Ashwin drew first blood in the 12th over by dismissing Duckett. Jadeja then got the wicket of Ollie Pope and that brought Joe Root in. Root had a close call off the second ball he faced off Jadeja, with India unsuccessfully trying to overturn an LBW appeal that didn't go their way. Crawley fell soon thereafter but Root and Bairstow then steadied the ship for England.
The pair put up 61 off 105 balls but they were both sent back soon after resumption of play in the second session. India jumped on top with two more wickets, with Jasprit Bumrah also getting on board on what has largely been the spinners' day out. Captain Ben Stokes switched gears when England got down to their last two wickets and he shared a useful 38-run partnership with debutant Tom Hartley for the eighth wicket. He had Mark Wood at the other at Tea, at which point England were 215/8. Stokes went past his half-century with a six and then hit another off the very next ball. Wood, however, fell soon after resumption of play and that brought No.10 Jack Leach into the middle. Stokes harvested strike as much as possible before getting an unplayable delivery from Bumrah and falling on 70 off 88. England were thus all out for 246 runs.
England return to India after about two and a half years and both sides have had a change of captains and coaches in the intervening period. India were led by Virat Kohli in the 2020/21 series and coached by Ravi Shastri. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were an integral part of the side. This time, both those stalwarts are out of the team while Kohli is unavailable for the first two Tests. Rohit Sharma is captain and this will be his first five-match Test series leading the side and Rahul Dravid is head coach. Apart from that, though, one can't say that their approach has changed too much in the longest format of the game.
The same can't be said about England though. Under captain Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who took over in May 2022, England's approach to Test cricket has pretty much captured the world's imagination. Their scoring rates often tend to be high even by ODI standards and their aggressive declarations have either led to them eking out a win on docile pitches like the ones they found in Pakistan or giving away what could have been straightforward victories, like they did in the first Ashes Test last year. The big question that has always been lurking around is whether England's ‘Bazball’ can work when they tour India.
We will find the answer to that question but despite England not losing a series since Stokes and McCullum took over, they remain the underdogs in this one, with yet another series win for India being the most unsurprising result. England are the last side to have defeated India in India, in the 2012/13 series. Since then, India have never even come close to losing a series at home and have lost just three Test matches overall in that period. Their winning streak currently stands at 16, six more than the next best which was 10 managed by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting's iterations of the all-conquering Australia in the late 1990s and the 2000s. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been at the heart of this run of success and while they both may be approaching the twilight of their career, they remain just as potent with the ball and the bat. Add to that the fact that Axar Patel is another highly effective spin-bowling all-rounder and it becomes pretty clear that, Bazball or not, any kind of success for England in this series would be a vindication of their approach.
Here are some of the highlights of Day 1 of the first Test between India and England
quickfire 55-run opening stand between Duckett and Crawley
- Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja then took three wickets for five runs after which a 61-run stand between Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root kept England steady
- India roared back with a flurry fo wickets in 2nd session
- Stokes shared a 38-run stand with Tom Hartley and a 41-run stand with Mark Wood
- Stokes was the last England wicket to fall and he fell for 70 off 88 balls
- England were all out for 246 runs