By BV Swagath
England are sitting in the driver’s seat in the 4th Test at Manchester having bowled out India cheaply for 152. The hosts finished Day 1 at 113 for 3 in 35 overs with another 39 runs to score before they can build their first innings lead.
India’s only consolation on the first day was young Varun Aaron bowling impressively to take the wickets of Alastair Cook who was bounced out for 17 and Gary Ballance lbw for 37 to a sharp indipper. The other wicket to fall was that of Sam Robson who got clean bowled offering no shot to a Bhuvneshwar Kumar inswinger.
England who were on the backfoot at 36 for 2 got through a strong partnership between Ballance and Ian Bell (45*) before it was broken by Varun Aaron in the last over before stumps.
Update at Tea on Day 1: A fighting knock of 71 from MS Dhoni helped India register a modest total of 152 on a pacy and bouncy pitch at Manchester. Stuart Broad destroyed the Indian batting with his 6 for 25 in 13.4 overs.
In the afternoon session, India lost Jadeja for a duck early to an inswinger from Anderson. India slipped to 63 for 6 before R Ashwin joined MS Dhoni and started to move the scoreboard with some positive strokeplay. The pair added 66 runs in nearly 14 overs before Ashwin was bounced out by Stuart Broad enticing him into a pull shot. Ashwin contributed 40 from 42 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar lasted just 6 balls for his duck as he was bowled by Broad offering no shot to an inducker.
Skipper MS Dhoni now left all alone brought up a fighting 32nd Test fifty and got out slogging Broad. The Indian Captain finished with 71 from 133 balls with 15 fours. Pankaj Singh was last man out, cleaned up for a duck as well making it six zeroes in the Indian innings. India were bowled out in just 46.4 overs.
Update at Lunch on Day 1: India are in a total mess losing half their side for just 62 runs on the board on a pacy and bouncy Old Trafford pitch. Things were even worse for India when they were reduced for 8 for 4 in just the 5th over!
The first wicket fell in the 4th over when comeback man Gambhir was edged out to gully by Stuart Broad. Anderson nicked out Murali Vijay for nought and in two balls time had Virat Kohli also caught at slip with a lovely outswinger. Cheteshwar Pujara was the third batsman to be dismissed for a duck when his pushy drive off Broad was snapped up at fourth slip.
Ajinkya Rahane and MS Dhoni put up a fighting stand before the former lost his concentration and got out driving a wide away swinger from Chris Jordan. Rahane was dismissed for 24. By lunch, India has got MS Dhoni batting on 24 with Ravindra Jadeja who is yet to get off the mark.
Toss and Teams: India has won the toss and opted to bat first in the 4th Test at Manchester. The visitors have made three changes with Gautam Gambhir, R Ashwin and Varun Aaron replacing Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami. England have gone in with an unchanged team so Steven Finn sits out.
England: AN Cook (C), SD Robson, GS Ballance, IR Bell, JE Root, MM Ali, JC Buttler (WK), CR Woakes, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, CJ Jordan
India : M Vijay, G Gambhir, CA Pujara, V Kohli, R Ashwin, AM Rahane, MS Dhoni (C&WK), RA Jadeja, B Kumar, VR Aaron, Pankaj Singh
Update at 3:15 pm IST: Light drizzle has delayed toss in the 4th Test at Old Trafford in Manchester. The conditions remain overcast but the forecast is for good weather today. Play is expected to get underway without much delay.
