A thick layer of live grass on the surface, fast bowlers beating the bat on regular intervals, batsmen being intimidated with pace and bounce. These, in a nutshell, sums up what we are familiar with when it comes to a Test cricket under lights with a pink ball. In reality, when the caravan reached Motera, only 11 overs were bowled by the two Indian pacers – Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah – during England’s first innings that lasted 48.4 overs.
Local boy Axar Patel took 6-38 and R Ashwin 3-26 to help India bundle England out for a mere 112 as throughout the opening day of the crucial third Test, slow bowlers dominated proceedings on a pitch that cannot be classified as a rank turner.
In reply, the Indians ended the day at 99/3, with Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane at the crease. Prior to that a 64-run stand between Virat Kohli and Rohit steadied the Indian ship after the loss of Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick successions. Even after surviving an early scare, Gill failed to get going when he tried to pull Jofra Archer but could only spoon an easy catch to the short midwicket fielder while Pujara was trapped in front to a slider from Jack Leach. And towards the end of day’s play England’s left-arm spinner got the priced scalp of Kohli when the home captain tried to cut a ball close to his body and was played on. The wicket was a huge sigh of relief for the visitors as they earlier dropped him at the gully region off the bowling of James Anderson.
Under lights the England pace trio of Anderson, Stuart Broad and Archer extracted some movement, both in the air and off the pitch, out of the pink SG ball. However, they needed a better support from their fielders as couple of chances were grasped at crucial junctures. For India, Rohit played a few eye-catching trademark pull shots while scoring his 12th Test fifty.
Earlier, England had the advantage of winning the toss and making first use of the surface. But while Zak Crawley scored looked at ease during his 53, none of his teammates could go past the 20-run mark. They were not outdone by the spin that Axar and Ashwin got off the pitch; instead, it was an illusion of spin that resulted their downfall. Seven of England’s 10 wickets fell to deliveries that straightened when the batsmen played for the turn. From the tentativeness of the English batters it seemed the scars of Chennai were still fresh in their memories and as an opposition captain Kohli exploited those quite brilliantly.
India got going early in the game when Ishant, playing in his 100th Test got his first wicket with a beautiful delivery outside off that caught Dom Sibley on the crease. Then Axar, with his first delivery of the match, trapped Jonny Bairstow in front of the stumps. The Yorkshireman, who had come into the playing XI for Dan Lawrence, was beaten by the trajectory of the left-arm spinner and played down the wrong line of a straight delivery.
At 27/2, with the visitors in a spot of bother, skipper Joe Root and Crawley formed an alliance to provide some stability to the innings. The partnership yielded 47 runs with Crawley being the aggressor. With some crisp drives and flicks, he reached his fifty in just 68 deliveries.
However, just before the end of the session, India made a rapid comeback with the wickets of both set batsmen. Root went first, outfoxed when Ashwin pitched one up. The England captain paid the price for playing back, and was leg before. Even the review could not save him. Next, Axar bowled Crawley with an arm ball as the visitors ended the session at 81/4.
The second session was completely dominated by the Indian spin duo as the remaining England batsmen – Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes included – could only add another 21. They had no answer to the class and accuracy of Ashwin and Axar. In fact, both of them were so dominant that India’s third spinner, who was picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav, could not bowl a single over during that England innings.
Brief scores:
England 112 (Crawley 53; Axar 6-38, Ashwin 3-27) lead India 99/3 (Rohit 57*; Leach 2-27) by 13 runs at stumps on Day 1