India vs England, 1st Test: Day 1 at Birmingham
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Image Source : Getty ImagesEngland had won the toss and had opted to bat on a dry wicket at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The hosts were off to a bright starts. However, off-spinner Ravichandran Aswhin produced one of his impactful performance outside the sub-continent as India reduced England to 285 for nine on the opening day of the first cricket Test.
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Ashwin (4/60) registered his best figures in Test cricket across South Africa, England and Australia as the hosts lost six wickets for 69 runs in the final session of play to find themselves in a precarious position after opting to bat.
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Joe Root (80 runs off 156 balls, 9x4s) scored an unbeaten 41st Test half-century, but the English innings completely got derailed after his dismissal. Root also became the quickest batsman to 6,000 Test runs in terms of time from his debut when he reached the landmark.
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Sensing a kill, India never let go the pressure in the remainder of the session. Every time England tried to build a partnership, Indian bowlers struck back and it resulted in regular wickets.
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It was a lucky breakthrough for India as their pacers found movement after the break. Ishant and Shami bowled closer to the England batsmen and made them play more often with the latter reaping reward.
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A 35-run partnership between Adil Rashid (13) and Curran raised visions of a fight back but Ishant Sharma (1/46) finally got return for his hard toil, trapping Rashid lbw with a sharp inswinger. Ashwin then accounted for Stuart Broad (1), lbw too, but Anderson somehow managed to thwart his efforts for a five-wicket haul.