India took early control of the match after bowlers dismantled England for 183 on the day one of the first Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, which is likely to be heavily affected by weather.
India could not have dreamed for a better start to their five-match long Test series in England than they had on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge. The Indian bowlers skittled the hosts for just 183 to put India in a commanding position by the end of day one.
Kohli’s wretched luck at tosses continued as England called the coin toss right and decided to bat first. But things didn’t go as planned for the hosts as they lost the first wicket in the very first over of the match.
A brilliant setup by Bumrah ended up in Rory Burns getting plumb to a booming inswinger on a duck. After the early blow, Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley stabilized the innings to some extent by batting out 20 overs before Crawley (27) inside-edged a Mohammed Siraj delivery and India took a brilliant review after a comedy sequence of events. Soon after that Sibley (17) fell into a trap at short mid-wicket to hand Shami his first wicket.
Meanwhile, the England skipper Joe Root was looking in fine touch at the other end, playing him some glorious shots. Jonny Bairstow, who returned to the squad amidst plenty of outrage, looked solid in his defence. Root brought up his 50th Test half century as the pair put on a 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket. But just when Bairstow (29) was looking to get a move on, Shami pinned him LBW on the stroke of Tea. England’s score read 138/4 at this point.
Things went downhill after Bairstow’s wicket at rapid pace. Immediately after the Tea break, Dan Lawrence (0) was strangled down the leg in the same over. In walked Jos Buttler, a huge threat for India but the visiting bowlers kept charging in and bowled exceptionally well. Buttler (0) succumbed to the pressure after 17 dots and edged a good length Bumrah delivery through to Pant.
Root’s outstanding knock of 64 ended when he missed a full swinging delivery by Shardul Thakur to get caught on the crease plumb. Ollie Robinson couldn’t make any contribution with the bat as he fell to soft dismissals. The ever-entertaining Stuart Broad started off with a sublime cover drive but, as expected, it was a short stay. He fell to a full fast swinging delivery by Bumrah, and England were reduced to 160/9.
India needed one wicket to wrap things up, but their nemesis Sam Curran was still at the crease. The man who bailed England out of danger on many occasions in the 2018 series between the two sides. The 23-yr old all-rounder danced down the track and dispatched Thakur into the stands over the wide long-on to make his presence felt. Curran farmed the strike well for the next five overs and smashed a boundary against Thakur, Bumrah and Shami. It looked like Curran was taking the game away from India once again.
Curran could not keep the strike at the end of the 65th over, and Bumrah got an entire over to bowl at Anderson. The pacer then cleaned up Anderson with a pitch-perfect yorker to wrap things up. Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for India, picking 4/46, followed by Shami, who took 3/28.
Indian openers had the huge task of facing the English bowling attack for an hour before the stumps. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul looked assured in the defence. There were a few plays and misses and a few LBW shouts, but the Indian openers survived a 13-over testing period unscathed as they finished the day without losing a wicket.
With rain predicted for the majority part of the next four days, India did as well as they could to find themselves in a position to get a result in their favour.
Brief Scores
England – 183 (Joe Root 64, Jonny Bairstow 29; Jasprit Bumrah 4/46, Mohammed Shami 3/28)
India – 21/0 (KL Rahul 9*, Rohit Sharma 9*) trail by 162 runs.
