India dominated the opening day of the fourth Test as the visitors first bowled out England just a few overs before stumps and then scored 19/0 at the The Ageas Bowl on Thursday.
With India trailing by 227 runs, openers Lokesh Rahul (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (3) remained unbeaten. The day started with Indian pacers wrecking England’s top order, taking four quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 57/4 at lunch.
Electing to bat first on a track with a tinge of live grass, England’s opening woes continued to haunt them as Keaton Jennings was trapped plumb in front by an excellent inswinging delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, for a duck in the third over of the innings.
One over later, Bumrah almost sent packing English skipper Joe Root when he was on two, before the DRS came to the latter’s rescue. Root was trapped plumb in front but television replays showed the bowler had overstepped.
The England captain, however, failed to take advantage of the reprieve as Ishant Sharma swung it big into the England captain to trap him lbw.
Reduced to 15/2, England’s hopes were pinned on former skipper Alastair Cook (17) and Jonny Bairstow (6), playing as a specialist batsman after injuring his finger.
But Bumrah scuttled such ambitions by scalping Bairstow, caught behind by Rishabh Pant in the 13th over before first-change bowler Hardik Pandya ended Cook’s 55-ball resistance, thanks to a brilliant catch at the third slip by Virat Kohli.
Resuming the post-lunch session at 57/4, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler played out the initial few overs cautiously before Buttler started opening up only to bring his downfall, caught by Virat Kohli off Mohammad Shami.
Reduced to 86/6, the left-handed pair of Moeen Ali and Sam Curran steered the ship to safety, as they played the Indian pacers with extreme caution and did not allow premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to dominate.
The final session saw Moeen and Curran stabilising the hosts innings, forging a crucial 81-run partnership. After Ali’s wicket no other batter supported Curran, and as a result, the hosts were bundled out for 246 just before the end of play.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets while Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets each.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
Another delightful bowling performance by our pacers! They have continuously hit the right lengths and extracted the most out of this pitch. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/HdC4BPU5qi
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 30, 2018
This is where England is unique. They bat at home like most teams bat overseas. #ENGvIND
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) August 30, 2018
Cook negotiated Ishant and Bumrah, only to be dismissed by Pandya.. What a catch, Virat.
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) August 30, 2018
1. England's Top order
2. England's Middle order#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/zQfncHdmnk— Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) August 30, 2018
Well played Sam Curran…..breath of fresh air !!
IPL ???— BeefyBotham (@BeefyBotham) August 30, 2018
Some excellent bowling by India and now a fightback. Absorbing day's play. For me, Test cricket is the best sport.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) August 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1035172519135858688
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1035227451188805632
Welldone boys top bowling performance @ImIshant @Jaspritbumrah93 @MdShami11 @hardikpandya7 @ashwinravi99 👏👏👏👏🇮🇳💯😊 #EngvInd #testcricket @BCCI
— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3) August 30, 2018
The ball from Jasprit Bumrah to dismiss Jennings swung 3.77° – Bumrah has only bowled two deliveries which have swung more in his entire Test career. #ENGvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 30, 2018
Sam Curran’s find of the year for England this year, perhaps in the sport. Fantastic half century under acute pressure. Has shown up the pusillanimity of his highly reputed team mates
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) August 30, 2018
A 20 yr old is giving England a sniff of more than decent score on this pitch … #ENGvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/itsalokj/status/1035228268973182976
