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Wasteful England hand India early advantage
- Updated: November 26, 2016
Lunch England 92 for 4 (Bairstow 20*, Stokes 5*) v IndiaLive scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
England were in danger of throwing away the advantage of winning the toss in Mohali as they slipped to 92 for 4 on the opening day. Their two lynchpins, Alastair Cook and Joe Root, were among the batsmen to fall, and it was only Haseeb Hameed, who received a brute of a delivery, who will be able to reflect that he did not have a hand in his dismissal.
India were also able to breathe a sigh of relief – at least for the time being – having dropped two catches in the opening session, both off Cook, as each of the four bowlers used made a breakthrough. R Ashwin, who dropped one of the catches, struck with his first delivery to claim Cook. Another bowling change paid dividends shortly before lunch when Mohammed Shami lured Moeen Ali into a top-edged hook with the fourth delivery of his second spell.
On a dry, cracked surface, which was already showing signs of spin and uneven bounce, England could soon come to rue their wastefulness. Some of their shot selection suggested a side too eager to make the running, perhaps fearful of how quickly the pitch would start to break up. At lunch, Jonny Bairstow, who has been promoted to No. 5 amid the batting reshuffle based around Jos Buttler’s recall, was solid on 20 alongside Ben Stokes with England needing another significant partnership from the most prolific …
