After a promising start, England lost their top order on the opening morning of the showpiece series in India. England, who chose to bat first and fielded a spin-heavy attack, got off to a flying start against the new ball, with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley adding 55 for the first wicket. However, as India inserted their famous spin combo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, England struggled. It fell to 60/3 before Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow counter-punched to lead them to 108/3 at lunchtime.

Mohammed Siraj began irregularly, bowling a half-volley to Crawley, which was duly dispatched. Crawley showed early aggression by hitting a boundary off the next delivery, which Duckett duplicated against Jasprit Bumrah in the following. While the two bowlers were able to beat the edge on several occasions, the openers continued to hit bad deliveries for boundaries, keeping the run rate above five after the first eight overs.

The openers’ outlook drove Rohit Sharma to use spin from both ends, and the decision paid off. A skidder from Ashwin trapped Duckett’s leg before wicket, and while the batter reviewed the ruling, replays indicated that the ball would have clipped the leg stumps. Ollie Pope, who appeared tentative in his brief stint at the crease, was the next to depart, edging Jadeja to the slip fielder.

England could have been in serious trouble when Jadeja appeared to trap Joe Root leg-before-wicket on the second delivery, but the batter managed to keep his wicket despite India’s choice to argue the on-field verdict. India, on the other hand, scored on the very next delivery, with Ashwin scoring his second with a chip to mid-off that Crawley mistimed. 55/0 quickly became 60/3, and England relied on the experience of Root and Jonny Bairstow to turn things around.

To a certain extent, the two batters succeeded, with Bairstow getting off to a good start against Jadeja with a couple of boundaries. Rohit pulled Ashwin from the attack just before the interval to guarantee that both left-arm spinners faced the two right-handers. However, the two batters emerged unhurt, scoring 48 runs to provide England a solid foundation entering into the second session.Brief scores: England 108/3 (Ben Duckett 35, Jonny Bairstow 32*; R Ashwin 2/20) vs India