As far as meeting expectations goes, the first day of England’s tour of India lived up to a lot of the hype and ended the day intriguingly poised with little to separate the two teams who traded blows and showed a bit of almost everything they have to offer.

England’s offensive style, albeit occasionally faltering against spin, resulted in some competitive runs. While India’s quality of spin, combined with Bumrah’s skill, kept them in check, they had their moments, highlighted by Ben Stokes’ now-famous explosion alongside the tail.

On a field that slowed as the ball turned older, the fresher ball, combined with the morning dampness, provided some movement for the Indian seamers. However, despite repeatedly smashing the bat, this was the closest England came to replicating their winning recipe. The Indian spinners settled into their stride in the second session, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett hitting the boundary ropes eight times in as many overs, scoring 41 vital runs. They cashed in on any inaccuracy in line or length, unconcerned about the movement and ready to target the boundaries at any time.

As the pace was maintained, the turning ball required newer strokes to be executed successfully. England reacted with a variety of attempted sweeps, some of which were successful, but none of the top order was able to maintain this intensity consistently, emphasizing the importance of those runs against the new ball for England.

“I don’t believe it is spinning excessively; the spin is normal, and it is a bit slow and easy to fix because the ball does not slide after throwing. It’s a little difficult for the batsmen, but if you play well, you can score runs,” said Axar Patel at the end of the day’s play.

Elsewhere, his partner Ashwin reflected on the thoughts, blaming the dampness on the pitch for the speed on offer in the opening session.

For instance, India scored up to 56 runs in their first eight overs, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma putting on an entertaining partnership. While the rate of scoring at that moment was comparable, India was doing so under radically different conditions. With the afternoon sun already scorching the ground, which had puffs of dust coming off around the crease and bowler’s landing area, their work was different. However, the same was true for England. Armed with only one fast bowler, who found little to nothing on offer, Stokes quickly went to spin from both ends.

This turned out to be a costly move, as Jaiswal found the turn into him rather comfortable, especially against newcomer Tom Hartley. Hartley’s speeds, like Jack Leach’s, hovered around 90kph early in the innings, and neither spinner found the same purchase that the Indians carried out earlier in the session.

To make matters worse, the new ball was not gripping as well as before, and Jaiswal refused to let them settle into lengths. With slog sweeps, drives against the spin, and delicate footwork, Jaiswal penned the book on rapid scoring vs spin on a favorable surface. He was so good in that little gem of an innings that he almost negated England’s advantage, which Stokes had given them.

The scoring rates once again fell as the ball grew older, as Shubman Gill exercised prudence near the close of the day’s play after an ugly shot from Rohit Sharma threatened to destroy India’s solid work up to that point. Upon the second day, England will be armed with a 23-over-old ball, expecting that their spinners will come into play more frequently, and India’s techniques to counter it may differ from how they played against the newer ball. For the time being, however, it has allowed them to maintain their lead and even outperform England in their own game, laying the groundwork for the series.