Indian bowlers displayed amazing tenacity to restrict England to 268/8 on Day one of the Mohali Test.
It was an all round bowling effort as both seamers and spinners troubling the English batsmen to a vast extent. None of the Englishmen, except Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler were able to offer any resistance as their batting line up fell like a pack of cards.
Although the pitch supported spin from the beginning, Indian seamers put in a lot of heart and Umesh Yadav gave India the first breakthrough.
The spinners took over from there and troubled the Englishmen throughout the day. Whereas the spinners shared five wickets amongst themselves, the pacers picked up the remaining three wickets falling in the day.
After registering a comprehensive victory in the second Test match against the visitors England in Vishakhapatnam, Virat Kohli and company began the match with confidence and will look to dominate it in the upcoming days.
As far as the Mohali pitch is concerned, the wicket here has always assisted the fast bowlers with its green deck. However, this time the curators have made sure the wicket helps spinners as the play progresses day by day.
As far as records are concerned, India have played 3 Tests in Mohali against England and won 2 of them, while one game ended in a draw, thus maintaining an unbeaten record at the venue.
Both Teams Playing XI:
India: Murali Vijay, Parthiv Patel(wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami
England: Alastair Cook(c), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow(wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Gareth Batty, James Anderson
# England 268/8 at stumps on Day One
# England lose eighth wicket, score: 266/8 in 89 overs
# England score: 260/7 in 85.5 overs.
# England lose seventh wicket, Jonny Bairstow is snapped up by Jayant Yadav after scoring 89 runs
# England lose sixth wicket, Jos Buttler walks back pavilion after scoring 43 runs
# Tea Break on Day 1 in Mohali. England score 205/5
# English team crosses 200 run mark, partnership building between Bairstow-Butler
# 50 up for Jonny Bairstow, Jos Butler inching towards another half century
# 150 up for England in 54 overs
# England team loses fifth wicket, Ben Stokes walks back pavilion at 29 runs
# 100 up for England. Score 141/4
# Lunch on Day 1 in Mohali. England score: 92/4 in 29 overs
# Fourth wicket down for England. Moeen Ali out at 16 runs
# England score goes past 50 runs
# England loses third wicket, captain Alastair Cook walks back pavilion after scoring 27 runs.
# Second wicket down for England, Joe Root departs for 15
# England loses first wicket, Haseeb Hameed back to pavilion after scoring 9 runs, Umesh Yadav takes wicket
# Openers Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed opens the innings
# Two changes in Indian team, Parthiv Patel comes in for Wriddhaman Saha, Karun Nair makes his Test debut in place of injured KL Rahul
# England won the toss and decides to Bat first
# England Playing XI : Alastair Cook(c), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow(wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Gareth Batty, James Anderson
# India Playing XI : Murali Vijay, Parthiv Patel(wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami