New Delhi: KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on a dogged display as India took the honours in the first session of Day 1 of the fourth Test against England in Manchester, Old Trafford. Sent into bat, the Indian openers showed great determination and discipline to thwart the English bowling attack, which went wicketless as the visitors reached 78 for no loss in 26 overs.
Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 36 off 74 balls while Rahul was batting on 40 off 82 balls. Both batters mixed caution with aggression expertly, biding their time when English bowlers were on top, at the same time, taking advantage of the loose balls to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Indian batters had a bit of luck with plays and misses on a pitch, which had some pace and bounce, but played with a lot of caution to wade through the testing phase.
All in all, it was a good session for India, who were invited to bat after Shubman Gill lost the toss fourth time in a row.
Earlier, England skipper Ben Stokes elected to bowl in overcast conditions at the iconic Old Trafford.
Grappling with a host of injuries, India made three changes, bringing in Sai Sudharsan, Shardul Thakur and Anshul Kamboj in place of Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy and Akash Deep.
England, 1-2 up in the series, also made a change with Liam Dawson replacing fellow spinner Shoaib Bashir, who injured his hand in the third Test at Lord’s.
(More to follow)..