India finished day 1 of the first IND vs ENG test match at 119/1. The hosts currently trail by 127 runs in reply to England’s 246 runs. The English batsmen fell terribly against the Indian spinners and gave them 8 out of 10 wickets. England captain Ben Stokes was the leading run-scorer and scored 70 runs off 88 balls. England, known for playing ‘bazball’ and who were expected to rain four and six on day 1, completely failed in their approach.
More than England, it was India that played more of a “bazball” type of cricket. Yashasvi Jaiswal started the innings with a first-ball boundary and has already hit 9 fours and 2 sixes in his first 70 balls. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma also looked good and scored 24 runs off 27 balls, but he lost his wicket after playing a poor shot.
While England did not live up to the public’s expectations, the spectators were also in the mood to roast the visiting team. ‘The Bharat Army’, which is a fan of the Indian cricket team and supports it in all corners of the world, chanted the slogan: “White ball. Red ball. Where’s your Bazball? ‘The Bharat Army’ shared the video of the same on their official account ‘X’.
Indian fans roast England in Hyderabad
👀White ball. Red ball. Where is your Bazball? #INDvENG #INDvsENG #TeamIndia #BharatArmy #COTI🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/hvs1StJYLu
– The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) January 25, 2024
English batsmen were scoring at a run rate of 3.20 runs per session, this is the slowest run rate since the introduction of ‘bazball’.
England got off to a decent start on Day 1 as openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley added 55 runs for the first wicket. However, the Indian duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin took 3 wickets in 20 balls and England were reduced from 55/0 to 60/3.
Soon after England’s openers exit, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow added 61 runs for the fourth wicket and attempted to get the team’s innings back on track. There was a break in both batsmen’s concentration after lunch as Bairstow was the first to fall for 37 runs, while Root departed for 29 runs.
England captain Ben Stokes was his team’s last hope but continued to see other batsmen such as Ben Foakes (4), Tom Hartley (23), Rehan Ahmed (13) and Mark Wood (11) lose their wickets. Stokes started hitting the Indian bowlers for fours and sixes and adopted an attacking approach. However, Jasprit Bumrah ended his stay in the area.
R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the pick of the Indian bowlers and took 3 wickets a piece. Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah finished the innings with 2 wickets each.
Batting in their first innings, India made their intentions clear from the 1st ball, and the Indian openers never allowed the England bowlers to settle down. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 80 runs in the first 12.2 overs and at one point it looked like they would cross England’s lead on Day 1.
In the end, India finished at 119/1 on Day 1 and will hope to continue the same approach on Day 2.