Pant saves the day as Anderson wrecks havoc.
The much awaited 5th Test match between India and England began on Friday (1st July) at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma being ruled out due to injury and Jasprit Bumrah taking up the captaincy mettle for the first time meant that India was starting the match a bit on the backfoot.
India loses opener early.
Winning the toss, English skipper Ben Stokes asked India to bat first on an overcast green top. India opened with Gill and Pujara but both of them failed to give India a solid start. James Anderson who returned after nursing an injury was at its best and scalped both the openers in the morning season.
Potts run through the middle order.
Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli tried to stabilize the ship. They negated James Anderson pretty confidently but fell victims to Matty Potts who is just playing his 4th Test match. Potts caught Vihari plumb infront for LBW before cleaning up Virat Kohli's stumps. Shreyas Iyer too fellafter he nicked one to Sam Billings of James Anderson.
Pant and Jadeja show.
98/5 after 28 overs, India looked out of the match in the first 2 sessions itself. Post Drinks, the duo of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja joined hands and started rebuilding the innings. Pant started his counter attack and targetted the likes of Matty Potts and Jack Leach. Jadeja on the other hand played second fiddle to Pant's exploits. The duo brought up their 100 partnership in 130 balls and their 150 and 200 runs partnership in 182 and 218 balls respectively. Rishabh Pant hit 15 bondaries and 1 six as he brought up his 5th Test century in 89 balls. Pant's heroics finally came to an end as he edged Joe Root at 146. Pant has hit 20 fours and 4 sixes in his 111 ball knock.
Shardul Thakur fell soon to Anderson as he grabbed his 4th wicket. India finished Day 1 at 338/7.
Brief Scores:
India: 338/7.
Pant: 146.
Jadeja: 83*.
Anderson: 3w.
Potts: 2w.