ENG vs IND | Day 1 | Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja lead the fightback for India

Day 1 of the most awaited one-off fixture between England and India ended with the visitors ending the day on a strong note, courtesy of superb knocks from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. 

Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to field first in an overcast condition. The Indian openers Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara provided a semi-decent start to the Indian team. 

However, the seasoned red-ball campaigner James Anderson bowled consistently in areas of uncertainty and induced the edge to dismiss both the openers.

Hanuma Vihari displayed good enough resolve, but Matty Potts bowled an accurate in-swinging delivery to find him plumb LBW for 20 runs off 53 deliveries in the 23rd over. 

A couple of overs later, Virat Kohli (11) was a bit late in shoulder arming an outside off stump delivery and chopped it into the stumps off Potts. Then Shreyas Iyer started on a good note by hitting three boundaries but couldn't continue long as Anderson dismissed him for 15 off 11 and left the visitors reeling at 98/5.

In his early part of the innings, Rishabh Pant was natural in his approach and charged to Anderson and hit a four to release the pressure. 

At one end, Pant was smacking the balls all over the park, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja displayed composure to negate the commendable pace attack. 

On the stroke of Tea, the talented wicket-keeper brought up his half-century with a slight nudge towards the square leg area, which went for a boundary. 

In the second session, the duo were terrific at pouncing on the bad balls and scored runs at a rate of 5.08. 

Pant attacked Jack Leach and Anderson in his usual fashion, with his single-handed shot and reverse-scoops.  

In the third session, Jadeja was terrific in accelerating the run rate and supported Pant very well. 

The 24-year-old batter completed his century off 89 balls, which got etched into the history books as the fastest century by an Indian wicket-keeper in the longest format. 

Root made Pant holed out at the slip cordon for 146 off 111 balls, comprising 20 fours and four sixes. Soon, Shardul Thakur (1) was caught off-guard by the bouncer from Ben Stokes. 

However, the Indian team plundered runs at a rate of 5.66 in the third session, and was at 338/7 at end of Day 1, with Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten at 83 of 163, and Mohammed Shami on the other end.

It will be interesting to see if the England bowlers can pick up wickets of the Indian tail-enders in a quick fashion in the morning session of Day 2. 

Brief Scores: 

India- 338/7 (73)

Rishabh Pant 146 (111), Ravindra Jadeja 83* (163)

James Anderson 3/52, Matty Potts 2/85