Key events
Ali Martin’s report from Old Trafford
Liam Dawson talks to Sky Sports
[How did that feel] Yeah it was good! I was a little bit nervous the last couple of days, but bowling first settled some of those nerves. I enjoyed it.
[Did you expect to hear from Rob Key when Shoaib Bashir got injured?] I didn’t originally but our director of cricket at Hampshire pulled me aside and said, ‘Listen, there might be a chance of playing in Manchester.’ I’m here now and it’s a great opportunity.
I made it quite clear that I thought Test cricket was probably gone, with the age I’m at, so to get the opportunity is amazing. Thankfully it went okay today. I know a lot of the lads in the dressing-room so that wasn’t an issue at all.
The buzz of a Test match is very different to domestic cricket. It was good fun out there today and it’s another big day tomorrow.
[What did the captain and coach tell you?] Just to be me, really, to do what I’ve done in red-ball cricket the last three or four years. Today was exactly what you’re gonna get – nothing amazing, but I’ll try and do a job for the team.
I think we had a good day. They played and missed quite a bit in the first session. We’ve got a new ball in the morning and that will be a huge period in the game.
[On continuing with spin after 80 overs] We gave it a little crack but the pitch isn’t really spinning at the minute. Coming off and taking the new ball in the morning [makes sense]. If we can bowl them out for 375 and then bat big, hopefully we’ll be in with a shout.
[Do you remember your last Test wicket before the day?] I have no idea! [It was Hashim Amla] Was it? Okay!
[On dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal] It was nice. There wasn’t much to work with. I tried to bowl a fourth-stump line with natural variation and a little bit of drift.
I’m not getting any younger so I’m trying to enjoy each day I play for England. We’ll see what happens.
Stumps
An intriguing first day at Old Trafford ends with India on 264 for 4. In real terms they could be five down: Rishabh Pant retired hurt with a nastily swollen foot after trying to reverse sweep a Chris Woakes yorker.
Let’s pause for a moment to dwell on part of that sentence: ‘… after trying to reverse sweep a Chris Woakes yorker’.
It was a rugged arm wrestle all told, similar to the first day at Lord’s, with both teams in the ascendancy at different times. All seven Indian batters reached double figures, but nobody went big and Sai Sudharsan’s classy 61 was the highest score.
The pick of the England bowlers was Ben Stokes, who picked up Sudharsan and Shubman Gill. Chris Woakes was also excellent and the returning Liam Dawson took the big wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal with his seventh ball of the game.
Bad light stops play
That Jadeja boundary is the last of the day. Ben Stokes doesn’t want to give India any more easy runs and asks to take the second new ball. The umpires won’t allow them to use the quick bowlers in this light so the players are leaving the field.
83rd over: India 264-4 (Jadeja 19, Thakur 19) Jadeja dances down to lift Dawson emphatically over wide mid-on for four. That’s a cracking shot from a player who is bang in form.
82nd over: India 258-4 (Jadeja 14, Thakur 18) This passage of play feels a bit pointless, with India pottering along at two or three an over and England not threatening to take a wicket. If nothing else, having two spinners on will improve England’s over-rate.
“I live in Yorkshire, where we like our roses white, our burgers unsmashed, and our beers drinkable without having to take out a loan,” says Will Ellen. “Though a recent Guardian article about the Londonification of Manchester fills me with dread. I fear £8.20 IPAs will soon be crossing the Pennines…”
81st over: India 254-4 (Jadeja 12, Thakur 16) A maiden from Dawson to Jadeja, who has picked up where he left off at Lord’s by defending with complete certainty.
80th over: India 254-4 (Jadeja 12, Thakur 16) Root replaces Stokes, either to hasten the second new ball or because the umpires have told England they can only bowl spin in this light.
Thakur pushes four through mid-off, then turns one fractionally short of leg slip. The second new ball is available – but Dawson is continuing, which suggests England have been told they can’t take it in this light.
79th over: India 250-4 (Jadeja 12, Thakur 12) There’s a bit of excitement from the England fielders when Jadeja pads up to successive deliveries from Dawson. Both leaves were safe, the first on line and the second on line and length.
One from the over, and one more over until the second new ball is available.
78th over: India 249-4 (Jadeja 12, Thakur 11) A bouncer from Stokes whistles over the head of Jadeja. It’s called wide but Jadeja isn’t happy and complains to the umpires about the light. The commentators think it’s an attempt to postpone the second new ball until tomorrow morning. Even if play continues, the umpires may decide that it’s only safe enough for the batters to face the old ball.
77th over: India 245-4 (Jadeja 11, Thakur 9) “Aren’t India effectively a batter down through no fault of their own?” asks David Horn. “Recently, and not before time, in football we have the introduction of an extra substitute known as the concussion sub.
“Surely something similar could happen in cricket. Effectively an injured batter could be replaced with squad members specifically nominated prior to the start. Some teams may try to take advantage, for instance if a number eleven bowler chips a fingernail they bring on a gun batter instead (Yes I am looking at you Australia). Best way forward IMHO would be to agree replacements between the skippers, say three for each team, top batter, mid order and nine ten jack, to replace similar level players if required. Not perfect but better than now. Your thoughts?”
In theory it’s a no-brainer, but the moment you introduce that rule teams will start testing how bendy it is. I’d prefer to spend more time thinking about it so that the regulations are watertight and you cover every eventuality. There will be some internal injuries that are hard to verify. Cheating has become so ingrained that many players and teams don’t even realise they’re doing it.
76th over: India 244-4 (Jadeja 11, Thakur 8) Thakur’s stands tall to force Stokes through backward point for four; good shot. And a good response from Stokes, a lifter that beats the bat. From the first innings of the Zimbabwe Test, Stokes has bowled with such menace. He could be a lot of fun to watch on Australian pitches.
“There’s always been something a bit quirky and different about wicketkeeper-batsmen – AB De Villiers had more gears than a mountain bike – but Pant is in a whole different category of his own,” says Will Ellen. “Fingers crossed that’s not it for his series.
“Talking of fingers, Phil Tufnell said how odd it was going for a pint with a wicketkeeper. They’ve taken so many blows and knocks in their career that their fingers sort of stick out at odd angles, which means the lifting of said pint pot is somewhat problematic. At £6 a pop these days you don’t want to be spilling any, do you?”
£6? Which never-ending happy hour are you living in?
75th over: India 237-4 (Jadeja 11, Thakur 1) The arrival of the right-hand Thakur means the return of Liam Dawson. Thakur pushes his last ball for a single to get off the mark.
I’m still trying to make sense of that Stokes wicket. It wasn’t just against the run of play, it was an affront to the run of play. This is what you can achieve through force of personality. Or so I’m told.
74th over: India 235-4 (Jadeja 10, Thakur 0) Shardul Thakur comes in at No7, presumably to give India a right/left-hand combination.
That wicket was so typical of Stokes as to verge on cliché. Old ball, nothing happening, key moment, wicket. He’s awesome.
WICKET! India 235-4 (Sudharsan c Carse b Stokes 61)
Stokes said he took himself to “some dark places” on the final day at Lord’s. He’s doing it again at Old Trafford, trying to burgle a wicket with a ball that most dogs wouldn’t look at.
And he’s done it. Of course he’s done it. Stokes has suckered Sai Sudharsan into a top-edged pull that flew straight down the throat of long leg. Sudharsan can’t believe he’s fallen for it and swishes his bat in frustration.
Stokes, more animated this summer than I can remember, celebrates with another primeval roar.
73rd over: India 235-3 (Sudharsan 61, Jadeja 10) Jadeja dumps Root contemptuously back over his head for four. That’s an excellent shot, which continues a burgeoning counter-attack that has taken some of us by surprise.
72nd over: India 231-3 (Sudharsan 61, Jadeja 6) A bit of width from Stokes allows Sudharsan to play a beautiful back-foot force past backward point for four. He was dropped by Jamie Smith on 20 but has otherwise played with the authority of a veteran.
71st over: India 223-3 (Sudharsan 55, Jadeja 6) The injury to Pant means England should have control of the scoreboard until the second new ball. Should. Sudharsan has played carefully and Jadeja doesn’t play many attacking strokes.
Jadeja plays no stroke whatsoever to a delivery from Root that skids on and doesn’t miss off stump by much. Root puts his hands to his head in frustration; in truth I think it was a safe enough leave.
70th over: India 223-3 (Sudharsan 54, Jadeja 5) Stokes, who will never ask somebody to bowl the sour overs from 70-80 if he can do it himself, replaces Woakes and is edged through the gap for four by Jadeka. I don’t think it carried but it was well bowled.
“Hi, Rob,” says Smylers. “When you described Shubman Gill’s wicket as ‘Brobdingnagian’, I knew what the word meant — but only because I looked it up last night, after you used it for the wickets of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley.
“Have you been challenged to use it in OBO updates? Or do you just like it because it has ‘Rob’ in the middle of it? Can we expect coinages from other literary works to start appearing in the OBO — perhaps a bowler leaving a batter biffsquiggled?”
A challenge? Like a bet? It’s just your imagination, Smylers. Besides, if I was trying to shoehorn words that include my name I’d have started with pentachloronitrobenzene.
Sai Sudharsan’s first Test fifty!
69th over: India 217-3 (Sudharsan 53, Jadeja 0) Joe Root comes into the attack, something that might have happened earlier with all the left-handers in India’s top six. Sudharsan hammers his second ball through the covers for four to reach a quietly superb fifty, his first at this level in his second appearance: 134 balls, six fours, oodles of patience. Really well played.
68th over: India 212-3 (Sudharsan 48, Jadeja 0) “Following along from the actual Test for the first time ever – a Christmas present for my cricket-daft son,” writes Allan MacDonald. “TMS have just had a discussion about how ‘it’s not exactly cold, but…’. I want to be very clear – it’s not bloody cold at all! I’ve been in a T-shirt since about 1145… (Although that may be due to my adaptation to Invernessian climes…)”
With such a hardy disposition, I trust you were at the Island Games in Orkney last week as well.
Rishabh Pant retires hurt on 37
A dinky mobile ambulance is being driven onto the field, and Ravindra Jadeja has come out to the middle as Pant’s replacement. Pant is in serious pain here and may have broken a metatarsal; if so, you’d imagine his series is over. Let’s hope not – he has provided so much entertainment in this series.
Pant may have to retire hurt. He’s in a lot of pain and his foot has ballooned just below his little toe. There’s a tendency to laugh whenever something happens to Pant, simply because he is the most hilarious* cricketer in history, but this looks nasty.
* That’s an entirely complimentary usage of the H-word
Pant is not out! Yep, there’s a spike on UltraEdge so Pant’s wonderfully ludicrous innings will continue. But not yet: he’s hobbling round, having been hit on the boot by that ball from Woakes, so the umpires have called for a drinks break.
England review for LBW against Pant
He made a Horlicks of a comical attempt to reverse sweep Woakes, but I’m pretty sure there was a bottom edge onto the boot.
67th over: India 211-3 (Sudharsan 47, Pant 37) Pant clobbers Dawson in the air and wide of mid-off for four. Stokes didn’t pick the ball up at all, though it was a long way to his left and even he wouldn’t have been able to catch that.
66th over: India 203-3 (Sudharsan 47, Pant 29) England look like a team who are waiting for the second new ball – but that’s still 14 overs away so they need an alternative plan. For now the scoreboard is under control, though even a relatively sedate Rishabh Pant has lifted the run-rate above three an over.
65th over: India 201-3 (Sudharsan 46, Pant 28) Pant has an absurdly good record against left-arm spinners, most of it written in sixes. For now he’s happy to milk low-risk singles, one of which brings up the 200. India have batted admirably today, suppressing the ego* for the good of the team.
* Most of the time
64th over: India 197-3 (Sudharsan 44, Pant 26) A maiden from Woakes to Sudharsan. The forecast is better tomorrow; or, to put it another way, England could be entering a world of pain if they don’t take any more wickets tonight.
England warned for slow over-rate
It took England longer than 90 seconds to start a new over, hence the warning for the umpires. I think there’s a five-run penalty if they are warned again, but I need to double check that and there just isn’t time.
63rd over: India 197-3 (Sudharsan 44, Pant 26) Dawson replaces the ailing Carse and almost gets Sudharsan with a ball that keeps low and sneaks under the bat. Sudharsan could easily have dragged that on.
Apparently England were given an official warning for farting around at the end of the previous over. As we thought at the time, Lord’s 2025 was the crawl that broke the camel’s back.
62nd over: India 195-3 (Sudharsan 43, Pant 25) Woakes replaces Archer and concedes four. I missed most of it was I was compiling the Pant table below, but the commentators didn’t use any exclamation marks so I assume it was uneventful stuff.
Most sixes by a batter in a Test series overseas
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16 Rishabh Pant (England v India, 2025)
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15 Shimron Hetmyer (Bangladesh v West Indies, 2018-19)
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14 Wasim Raja (West Indies v Pakistan, 1976-77)
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13 Brendon McCullum (Pakistan v New Zealand, 2014-15); Ben Stokes (South Africa v England, 2015-16)
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12 Several, including Shubman Gill in this series
