India regret not selecting 2nd spinner as England post 83/1 in 1st session

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After 4 years, the Indian cricket team took the field against England at their backyard in whites, under the leadership of Virat Kohli. No doubt that the series has been highly anticipated but the team selection for the first face-off surprised every cricket fan who had a prior speculation.

Kohli chose to play with 4 seamers and 1 spinner. After losing the toss, they were put to bowl first while Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings opened the English innings.

The hosts had a decent start as they maintained a net run rate of almost 3.33 in the first ten overs. Meanwhile, the Indians missed a fair chance to get rid of Jennings in the 6^th over but a dropped catch from vice-captain Rahane disappointed the pack.

Later, in the 9^th over, the only spinner in the game, Ashwin got the first breakthrough as he removed one of the dangerous England batters, Alastair Cook on 13. The delivery from the Indian off-spinner came out slow, drifted in, pitched around the leg stump and turned perfectly to bump into the off stump.

Despite an early success, Kohli and Co. had to pay a huge price for losing Jennings’ catch as he went on to stitch a healthy partnership for the 2nd wicket with skipper Joe Root, who came in at number three. Anchoring the innings after Cook’s dismissal, the duo added 70 runs by the end of the first session.

Both the batsmen hit four boundaries and are heading towards their respective half-centuries.

On the other hand, the Indian seamers failed to pick a scalp in the first session. Umesh Yadav leaked 29 runs in his 7 overs while Ishant and Shami maintained an economy of 2.83 after bowling six overs each.

Brief Scores:

England vs India, 1^st test:

England – 83/3 after 28 overs till Lunch break

Root: 31 (63)*, Jennings: 38 (77)*; R Ashwin: 7-13-1