New knee, same old Ben Stokes. Unfortunately for England, same old India, too.
On the opening day of the First Test, and his side’s pursuit of cricket’s most elusive success, England’s captain defied the brilliance of India’s spinners to keep the tourists in the early hunt.
An increasingly aggressive 70 ensured precious first use of a dry, turning pitch in Hyderabad was converted into what briefly looked a par score of 246, more than England had managed in all but one innings on their previous trip.
India, though, are unbeaten in home series in more than a decade for a reason, and having watched the twirling trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel wreak their usual havoc to share eight wickets, the home openers gave England’s tweakers short shrift.
A stunning partnership between Rohit Sharma and the brilliant Yashasvi Jaiswal eroded a third of the deficit in just a dozen overs, before Jack Leach removed the former to bring small relief.
With the bat, debutant Tom Hartley had ably assisted Stokes’s salvage mission, after a bright start from Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley was almost spurned, England slipping from 55 without loss to 60 for three, and then 137 for six.
Sharing the new ball, though, Hartley was served a brutal welcome, Jaiswal sending two of his first five Test deliveries into the stands in a display that eventually saw the left-armer’s nine overs cost 63 runs. The novice’s struggle was a reminder that, for all the talk of spin-friendly home conditions, India’s exponents possess skill unmatched.
Jaiswal, meanwhile, was magnificent, the nation’s freshest young star on home Test bow reaching stumps unbeaten with 76 of India’s 119 for one, and those from just 70 balls. England, to make matters worse, have already burnt all three reviews.
It was a gripping opening salvo, offering indicators aplenty of why no touring side has won in India since Sir Alastair Cook’s in 2012, but just enough, too, to suggest Stokes’s men can make this series a competitive one.
The caveat is that plenty of doomed tours have begun with similar promise and already an inexperienced spin attack appears in danger of being exposed.
Under no illusions about what lay ahead, England’s openers set out to make hay after Stokes won the toss, Duckett and Crawley each making statues of the fielding ring with a series of fine cuts and drives to take 41 runs from what would come to be viewed as eight halcyon overs of seam.
For at that point, Rohit decided the tourists had had quite enough fun, Jadeja into the attack to deliver a calming maiden, the ball turning immediately and with it the momentum of the session.
In a frantic quarter-of-an-hour, England lost their top three: Duckett first to go for 35 to an old foe in Ashwin, before Ollie Pope, an erratic starter at the best of times, barely made it off the line in his first competitive outing since dislocating a shoulder during the Ashes.
When Crawley, attempting to preserve the pressure, was undone by Mohammed Siraj’s terrific low catch, three wickets had fallen for five runs.
Enter Yorkshire to stop the rot, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow united at the crease to steer England through to lunch, the latter playing well on his return to the specialist position at No5 from which he excelled in the first Bazball summer 18 months ago.
A flurry of singles after the interval took the partnership beyond 50 without fright, but a magical delivery from Axar leapt and spun off the straight to take Bairstow’s off-stump, as pivotal a breakthrough as it was unplayable.
Bounce did for Root, too, England’s best player of spin stretching to sweep Jadeja and succeeding only in top-edging into the hands of Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit’s field placement again astute.
"Plenty of doomed tours have begun with similar promise and already an inexperienced spin attack appears in danger of being exposed"
Ben Foakes, on his recall, played a tentative game as India buzzed and made just four before feathering Axar behind.
The fearlessness of youth, though, restored English impetus. Teenager Rehan Ahmed threw the kitchen sink at Ashwin, almost twice his age, in a sparky cameo, while Hartley launched the series’ first six off the same bowler, the highlight of his useful 23 at almost a run-a-ball.
Stokes, cautious as the middle-order folded, was awoken, too, a reverse-sweep bringing his first boundary in 53 balls to start an acceleration that took England to 215 for eight at tea.
Srikar Bharat, excellent behind the stumps for much of the day, squandered a tough chance to halt England’s captain from the evening’s first ball, and Stokes was soon making fine use of the reprieve, heaving successive sixes off Jadeja as the field spread in anticipation of the kind of late assault Australia know too well.
In the end, it was Bumrah that brought his end, the seamer’s genius reflected with two wickets on a day when every other fell to spin.
