Manchester, July 23: Yashasvi Jaiswal survived a probing spell from Chris Woakes while KL Rahul looked solid as ever to steer India to 78 for no loss at lunch on day one of the fourth Test against England here on Wednesday.
No team opting to bowl first has ever won at Old Trafford but Ben Stokes ignored that piece of statistics on an overcast morning.
The ball did seam around, but lack of pace allowed the Indian openers to play the pull shot with relative ease. Rahul (40) and Jaiswal (36) are unseparated at the break.
India captain Shubman Gill thought it was a good toss to lose and that seems to be the case considering the dry and slow nature of the surface.
Woakes made it most difficult for the batters, especially Jaiswal, who was beaten on a number of occasions by the England pacer.
In the first over of the match bowled by Woakes, two edges of Jaiswal’s bat did not carry, signalling the lack of carry off the pitch.
In his eight over spell, Woakes was pulled twice with Rahul and Jaiswal dispatching him in front of the square.
A streaky drive from Rahul off Woakes brought the Indian opener’s 1000 runs in England, a testament to his stellar work at the top of the order even in this series.
Jaiswal, who was removed by Jofra Archer twice at the Lord’s, made a conscious effort to leave balls. The southpaw was also forced to change his bat when a ball from Woakes seamed back sharply from round the wicket to hit high on his bat, breaking the handle.
The openers somehow managed to survive the first hour of play, taking India to 42 for no loss in 14 overs.
Towards the end of the session, Archer returned for his second spell. He bowled a sharp bouncer to Jaiswal which he directed towards third man for four despite falling on the ground.
A couple of cut shots off Ben Stokes took Jaiswal into his 30s, the second being a six over the vacant third man.
Despite showing plenty of faith in Karun Nair on the eve of the match, Gill dropped him and brought in Sai Sudharsan in his place.
The other two were forced changes with uncapped Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur making way for the injured Akash Deep and Nitish Reddy respectively. (PTI)
