India ended day one of the final Test of their four-match series against England on 24-1 after bowling out the tourists for 205 in Ahmedabad.
Ben Stokes’ innings of 55 was the stand out performer in a shaky England innings.
James Anderson picked up the early wicket of Shubman Gill before the hosts got to stumps at 24-1.
India made just one change from the quickfire day/night third Test with Mohammad Siraj returning for Jasprit Bumrah, who left the squad for personal reasons.
England made two changes with Dan Lawrence coming in as a No 7 for Jofra Archer, who had an issue with his elbow. Dom Bess also came in as another spin option for Stuart Broad.
England’s batting woes continue immediately
England won the toss again, and elected to bat first, but survived a massive scare on just the second ball of the match.
An Ishant Sharma delivery hit Zak Crawley on the pads and, after the decision was initially given not out, India reviewed.
DRS showed the ball was just going down the leg side, meaning Crawley survived and India had lost one of their three reviews.
Dom Sibley made just two runs however when he was bowled by Axar Patel, continuing his fine form with the ball.
Crawley followed soon after as he skied Axar’s delivery straight down the throat of Siraj who had a simple catch.
England were 15-2 and desperately needed captain Joe Root to score big, however they were soon to be in trouble again.
Another superb delivery from Axar trapped Root on the pads right in front of his stumps, giving the umpire an easy decision.
Ben Stokes steadies England’s innings
Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were the next partnership at the crease, and the latter in particular was desperate for runs after getting a pair in the previous Test.
The duo built a solid partnership and regrouped well for England with a 44-run partnership to get them to 74-3 at lunch.
Bairstow departed after lunch after a Siraj delivery saw him out lbw. The Yorkshireman reviewed the decision but it was to no avail as England lost their fourth wicket.
Stokes continued to dig in and brought up his half-century with a superb drive to the boundary for four.
His innings ended on 55 however, as Washington Sundar picked up his first wicket of the match as Stokes was trapped in front of his stumps and dismissed for lbw.
Ollie Pope and Lawrence then battled to get the tourists to 144-5 at the tea break.
Pope was then dismissed in mightily unfortunate circumstances as he nicked Ashwin’s delivery which bounced off the pads and into the hands of Gill.
Lawrence was looking in good nick and needed to be too as he was desperate for runs after disappointing in previous innings.
It looked as if he would reach his half-century, but a moment of madness denied him. He tried to launch Axar down the ground but missed the ball allowing Rishabh Pant to make a routine stumping.
Bess followed soon after, making just three before he too was given out lbw.
The spinner reviewed the decision, but DRS showing umpires call on wickets meant the original verdict stood.
A disappointing batting performance was soon coming to an end, before Anderson and Jack Leach added 16 to the total.
Leach was the last man out as Ashwin picked up his third wicket, trapping the Somerset spinner on the pads and bowling England all out for 205.
India’s innings gets off to a poor start
England will have been disappointed with their overall batting performance, but with the ball got off to a superb start.
With just the third ball of the Indian innings, Gill was soon on his way back to the pavilion as England’s leading wicket taker Anderson trapped the young opener on the pads and was given out lbw for a duck.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma got the hosts to the end of the day without losing another wicket to end the day 24-1, 181 runs behind England’s total.
England will be looking to take fast wickets in order to skittle India for as low a total as possible, while India will be looking to build key partnerships to get to a total beyond England.
Day two coverage from Ahmedabad continues from 4am on Channel 4 on Friday morning.
By Josh Mann
