Ind Vs Eng: Day 1 Ends On High For India; Rohit Sharma Slams Half-Century, After Axar's Bowling Heroics

IND Vs ENG Day 1 Highlights: India trail by 13 runs in the third Test match against England. After bundling out England for 112 runs, Rohit Sharma rose up to the occasion. Read the full day report here.

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India vs England 3^rd Test is tilting majorly in favor of India after the end of Day 1. Rohit Sharma held the fort going into the night before Indian spinners won the first two sessions of the day. Visitors were bowled out for a meagre total of 112 as England’s poor form with the bat continued.

The day began with the inauguration of the new stadium in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and the President of India, Ramnath Kovind.

At the beginning of the day, England won the toss and decided to bat first. Even Kohli admitted that he would have chosen to bat first.

In the first session itself, India picked up four wickets. Ishant Sharma picked the first wicket playing in his 100^th Test match in the third over of the match. That was the only wicket picked up by any of the Indian fast bowlers.

The red soil pitch looked dry in the morning and it appeared as if the cover of grass would help the seamers more, but it turned out, it was clearly favouring the spinners.

Axar Patel picked up six wickets while Ashwin got rid of three English batsmen. Both spinners picked up nine wickets between them. The top scorer for England was Zack Crawley who scored 53 runs opening the batting for England. Special mention must be given to Virat Kohli and his decision to play three spinners when the conditions looked conducive for the pacers.

India’s innings began slowly, but steadily. Shubhman Gill played one aggressive shot, too many before getting caught at a score of 11. Pujara got out for a duck but then, Kohli and Rohit put up a 50+ run partnership.

When things looked smooth for India, Virat Kohli got out just at the stroke of Day 1 in the last over. India’s score was 99-3 at Stumps on Day 1. India still trail by 13 runs in the first innings of the third Test match.

Scores in brief:

England – 112 all out (Zack Crawley 53, Root 17; Axar 6/38, Ashwin 3/16)

India – 99/3 [Stumps Day 1] (Rohit 57*, Kohli 27; Jack Leach 2/27)