India began the Test series against England on a positive note as they bowled out the visitors for 246 and posted 119/1 in the first innings on Day 1 of the first match in Hyderabad.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, England reached 41/0 in eight overs before spin was introduced. Veterans Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three wickets each as England lost wickets at regular intervals.
Yashasvi Jaiswal then led the batting onslaught as he went all guns blazing to finish the day unbeaten on 76. When debutant Tom Hartley bowled his first over, he was hit for two sixes, and 19 runs were scored off of the first 12 deliveries.
Captain Rohit Sharma (24) then mistimed a shot to be caught off Jack Leach as the spinner broke the brisk opening stand. With a few overs remaining before stumps, England were desperate enough to burn all three of their reviews for the innings, although they managed to control the run rate Sharma’s dismissal.
Earlier in the day, Ben Duckett kept up the charge and smashed left-arm spinner Jadeja for two successive boundaries but fell lbw in the next over to Ashwin, who broke a breezy opening stand.
Meanwhile, Zak Crawley gifted Ashwin a second wicket when the tall opener hit the ball to mid-off, where Siraj took a low catch.
Later Jonny Bairstow (37) and Joe Root kept England in the hunt with a 61-run partnership before Axar Patel cleaned up the former soon after the lunch break.
Jadeja, on the other hand, got the better of Root for 29 as the former England captain was caught at short fine-leg after a mistimed sweep.
Skipper Ben Stokes’ defiant 70 pushed England to a competitive total. After hitting a six off Jadeja to reach fifty, the all-rounder combined with rookie Hartley (23) and Mark Wood (11) to add crucial runs lower down the order.
Jasprit Bumrah then removed Stokes as England were bowled out just after the tea break.
