England’s having a ball

LONDON, September 2

Shardul Thakur's counter-attacking half-century wasn't good enough to save the Indian batting from another embarrassment before Jasprit Bumrah's menacing opening spell kept the visitors on an even keel against England on the opening day of the fourth Test.

At stumps, England were 53/ 3 in response to India's 191, having lost openers Rory Burns (5) and Haseeb Hameed (0) to the extra pace and bounce generated by Bumrah (6-2-15-2).

Umesh Yadav (6-1-15-1) then bowled an off-cutter in his second spell to breach in-form Joe Root (21)'s defence which helped the visitors end the day on a high note.

That Indian shoulders didn't droop after being reduced to 127/7 was all because of a man playing only his fourth Test.

Justifying his tag as a bowling all-rounder, Shardul smashed 57 off 36 balls and added 63 for the eighth wicket with Umesh to take the total closer to 200 which had looked improbable after another "brain fade" dismissal from Rishabh Pant.

India lasted just 61.3 overs with Cheteshwar Pujara (10) and especially Ajinkya Rahane's (14) failures becoming glaring enough and couldn't be papered over by skipper Virat Kohli (50 off 96 balls), who played some gorgeous strokes en route his half-century.

Save couple of half-centuries, none of the Indian batters crossed the 20-run mark.

For England, Chris Woakes (15-6-55-4) was splendid in his comeback game and no praise would be enough for the fast-rising Ollie Robinson (17.3-9-38-3), who bowled a couple of beauties to get rid of KL Rahul and Kohli. — PTI

Kohli fastest to 23,000 runs in int’l cricket

London: India skipper Virat Kohli today became the fastest to reach 23,000 runs in international cricket. Kohli achieved the feat in his 490th innings on Day 1 of the fourth Test. Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-getter in international cricket with 34,357 runs, followed by Kumar Sangakkara (28,016) and Ricky Ponting (27,483). Kohli is number seven in the overall standings and is closing on Rahul Dravid's record of 24, 208 runs. The 32-year-old prolific scorer averages over 50 in all three formats. In 96 Tests, he has 13,646 runs, while in 254 ODIs, he has accumulated 13,061 runs. In 89 T20 Internationals, he has 2,272 runs. PTI

Scoreboard

India 1st innings

Rohit Sharma c Bairstow b Woakes 11

KL Rahul lbw b Robinson 17

C Pujara c Bairstow b Anderson 4

Virat Kohli c Bairstow b Robinson 50

R Jadeja c Root b Woakes 10

Ajinkya Rahane c Ali b Overton 14

Rishabh Pant c Ali b Woakes 9

Shardul Thakur lbw b Woakes 57

U Yadav c Bairstow b Robinson 10

Jasprit Bumrah run out (Burns) 0

Mohammed Siraj not out 1

Extras: (lb 8) 8

Total: (All out, 61.3 overs) 191

FOW: 1-28, 2-28, 3-39, 4-69, 5-105, 6-117, 7-127, 8-190, 9-190, 10-191

Bowling O M R W

James Anderson 14 3 41 1

Ollie Robinson 17.3 9 38 3

Chris Woakes 15 6 55 4

England 1st innings (At stumps)

Rory Burns b Bumrah 5

Haseeb Hameed c Pant b Bumrah 12

Dawid Malan not out 26

Joe Root (c) b Yadav 21

Craig Overton not out 1

Extras: 0

Total: (53/3, 17 overs)

FOW: 1-5, 2-6, 3-52

Bowling O M R W

Umesh Yadav 6 1 15 1

Jasprit Bumrah 6 2 15 2

Shardul Thakur 3 1 11 0

Mohammed Siraj 2 0 12 0