After the row about time-wasting at Lord’s came an unscheduled 10‑minute delay on the opening day in Manchester but this time no one was grumbling. It ended with Rishabh Pant being driven off on a golf buggy nursing a suspected broken foot, the agony on his face as clear as the egg that had swollen up within seconds.
This was a very Pant way to get injured, India’s maverick wicketkeeper attempting a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes only to bottom edge the ball straight on to his boot. England burned a review for the lbw but it still proved as good as a wicket, Pant retiring on 37 and his further role in this pivotal fourth Test left very much in doubt.
It changed the complexion of a hard-fought opening day or at least eased it from an English perspective. Ben Stokes won his fourth toss in succession, watched India chisel their way to 212 for three, only for the tourists to close on 264 for four (potentially five) from 82 overs when bad light ended proceedings 10 minutes early.
As has become an encouraging feature of this summer, his fitness seemingly fully restored, Stokes was very much in the thick of it with the ball in hand. Having wiped out Shubman Gill for 12 during the afternoon session, England’s captain then followed it up with the removal of Sai Sudharsan for a well-crafted 61. Coming moments after Pant’s eye‑watering exit, it was a precious strike.
Sudharsan is an interesting cricketer. The left-hander’s bat-tapping, low-slung setup is something of a throwback of a technique but his cover drives are delivered with a very modern snap of the wrists. Negotiating 151 balls and stitching India’s innings together, the 23-year-old had calmly repaid the decision to draft him back in at No 3 after curiously being dropped for the games at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
For all that Sudharsan looked composed during his maiden Test half-century, a chance came and went when he had 20 to his name. Stokes had looked to target the leg-side strangle that proved his undoing at Headingley – the downside of that setup – only for Jamie Smith to dive too early and clang the chance it served up. But for this rare mistake by Smith, India would have been 139 for three in the 48th over and it was not until Stokes forced a top-edge to long leg in the 74th over that Sudharsan was finally dismissed. Thereafter it was down to the all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur to guide India to stumps, England forced to bowl spin during the final exchanges when they would have sooner taken the second new ball.
Stokes and his men seemed pretty relaxed about life when they walked off, at least, and will get this opportunity when fresh first thing. And after a buildup dominated by the niggle of Lord’s – Gill even citing the spirit of cricket during his pre-match press conference – this was an attritional day of cut and thrust between bat and ball, rather than one of heated words being traded out in the middle.
The only bad blood came from the crowd when Gill walked out to the middle at 120 for two and even then these were pantomime boos. It did not take long for these to turn into cheers either, Gill shouldering arms to a ball from Stokes that nipped back off the seam to trap him plumb lbw. The three reds that flashed up on the big screen after Gill’s optimistic review only doubled the noise inside Old Trafford.
It was the last of three wickets to fall during the afternoon as England stemmed India’s early momentum. Woakes had neatly squared up KL Rahul on 46 for a well-earned edge to second slip shortly after the restart but Liam Dawson’s follow-up, Yashasvi Jaiswal removed for a crisp 58, probably trumped it by way of satisfaction.
Having waited eight years to turn three Test caps into four, the 35-year-old took just seven deliveries to make his mark with a touch of drift that found the edge. Over the course of 15 overs, and despite little to work with in terms of the pitch, Dawson offered Stokes control and asked questions with his changes of pace.
Despite Dawson bowling in sunglasses, the grey skies over Manchester and the tinge of green on the pitch meant everything pointed towards bowling first. And yet in choosing to do so, Stokes had tasked his men with overcoming history. In 85 previous Test matches at Old Trafford no captain has ever won this way.
Jaiswal and Rahul were more than up to the challenge of the new ball, however, steering their side through a wicketless morning. Woakes beat the bat on occasion but England’s lengths were a fraction too short overall. Archer corrected this as the day went on, at least, even if his speeds were a touch down from Lord’s.
The biggest surprise was medium-fast Woakes being the seamer to break Jaiswal’s bat handle during the opening exchanges. But it may be the blow he inflicted during the final session – the end of a typically impish innings from Pant that included an absurd four swept off Archer – proves the most pivotal in this contest.
