Stealth and Skill: IND openers unfazed by Manchester's overcast challenge

With clouds hovering over Old Trafford cricket ground, it was expected that the Indian batters will have a difficult beginning to the proceedings. However, the IND openers stood firm in the middle.

Shubman Gill is already 4-0 down in terms of the toss results as the new Indian skipper as he once again lost the toss to England skipper Ben Stokes, who decided to bowl first in the 4th Test in Manchester. However, according to the Indian skipper, it was a good toss to lose as he was a tad bit confused about his decision if he had won the toss.

 

With clouds hovering over Old Trafford cricket ground, it was expected that the Indian batters will have a difficult beginning to the proceedings. However, the visitors proved the pundits wrong, with openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul coming out and holding their ends in the beginning.

 

 

The first session began with both Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul giving the hosts a steady start against a bowling attack that was getting some movement off the ball in the start in Manchester.  Check ENG vs IND 4th Test Day 1 LIVE SCORE UPDATES and full scorecard here

 

Rahul-Jaiswal stood firm against ENG pacers  Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes began brilliantly with their line and lengths as both batters were hesitant to attack the ball on most occasions. However, the duo did pick up the odd balls and found boundaries in between the difficult spells. By the end of the session, the pacers had bowled almost 37% of the deliveries at good length while the rest of them falling short (33%) on the day.

 

Jaiswal's bat did find the edge twice but fell short of the slips and denying England that early breakthrough on the day. The extra bounce provided by th surface also saw Jaiswal's bat taking the full brunt of it as it cracked open in of the overs from Woakes and needed replacement.

 

Stokes later introduced himself and Brydon Carse into the attack and tries to hit the deck hard to get that extra bounce. However, despite of a couple of close LBW shouts, the Three Lions couldn't disrupt the partnership. 

 

The openers stiched a 78-run partnership in the middle as they tried to counter attack the pacers the overcast conditions with the score at 78/0 at lunch.  

It was Archer's 5-over spell that caught the eye in the 1st session as the pacer only gave away 7 runs and looked in good shape.  IND 1st innings scorecard at lunch: 

India 1st Innings
78-0 (26 ov) CRR:3.00
Batter				R		B		4s		6s		SR
Yashasvi Jaiswal		Not out		36		74		6		1		48.65
KL Rahul		Not out		40		82		4		0		48.78
Extras		2 (b 0, Ib 1, w 1, nb 0, p 0)
Total		78 (0 wkts, 26 Ov)
Yet to Bat		Sai Sudharsan,Shubman Gill,Rishabh Pant,Ravindra Jadeja,Washington Sundar,Shardul Thakur,Anshul Kamboj,Jasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Siraj
Bowler	O		M		R		W		NB		WD		ECO
Chris Woakes	8		2		24		0		0		0		3
Jofra Archer	8		1		15		0		0		1		1.88
Brydon Carse	5		0		24		0		0		0		4.8
Ben Stokes	5		1		14		0		0		0		2.8