India Score 1/24 After Spinners Bowl England Out For 205 On Day 1

Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin took seven wickets between them as England were dismissed for 205 on the first day of the fourth and final Test on Thursday.

Brief scores: England 205 all out in 75.5 overs (B Stokes 55, D Lawrence 46, O Pope 29, A Patel 4/68, R Ashwin 3/47, W Sundar 1/15) vs India 24/1 in 12 overs (R Sharma batting 8, C Pujara batting 15, D Bess 1/4)

4th Test: India vs England Day 1 Report

Joe Root again won the toss and chose to bat at the world's biggest cricket venue in Ahmedabad, where India won the spin-dominated third Test inside two days.

Left-arm spinner Patel, who has taken a hat-trick of fifers, once again took a wicket in his first over of the innings like he had done in the third Test. He removed Dom Sibley, having him bowled with an armer. In his second over, Axar got rid of the other opener Zak Crawley who tried to hit out against him. 

India on Top After The Day One!

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Joe Root went for five to an in-swinging Mohammed Siraj delivery as his side slumped to 30-3 before Ben Stokes put on key partnerships with Jonny Bairstow, who made 28, and Ollie Pope (29).

Bairstow was trapped lbw by a rising Siraj delivery and failed in a review that showed the ball would have clipped the top of middle stump. However, Stokes' half-century and contributions from Ollie Pope (29) and Lawrence took them to a total which kept them alive.

Siraj and Stokes were involved in a verbal duel, joined by India captain Virat Kohli, until the umpires intervened. Stokes then hit back with three boundaries off the quick bowler.

Ashwin tested Pope with his off-spin after tea and the batsman was unlucky to get an inside edge off his back pad that went to short leg, and Gill took a simple catch.

 

Stokes reached his 24th Test fifty with a boundary off a reverse sweep, but the left-hander fell to a Washington Sundar delivery from around the wicket. Patel got Dan Lawrence stumped four short of his fifty.

England's innings lasted for 75.5 overs, which was quite close to the 79.2 overs it lasted across two innings combined in the third Test.

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India lost an early wicket, of Shubman Gill (0), off the bowling of James Anderson during the 12 overs they had to face towards the end of the day's play. Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on eight and Cheteshwar Pujara was not out on 15.