Bairstow shines but India take charge against careless England

Tea England 205 for 5 (Bairstow 66*, Buttler 38*) v IndiaLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England managed to cling to India’s coattails on the opening day in Mohali, but did themselves no favours having been given what should have been a significant advantage by winning the toss. Jonny Bairstow, promoted to No. 5 amid England’s batting reshuffle, held the innings together after four wickets had gone in the morning session and formed consecutive half-century stands with Ben Stokes and the recalled Jos Buttler.

By tea, Bairstow, who had been given a life on 54, had added an unbroken 61 with Buttler, who was playing just his second first-class match of the year. The pair had to combat a challenging spell of reverse swing from Umesh Yadav, who almost uprooted Bairstow’s leg stump in similar fashion to Vizag, and enticed Buttler to edge through the slips, but guided England to 205 for 5.

Despite some understandable uncertainty from Buttler, he helped Bairstow ensure England did not stand still. He brought out the reverse sweep (although he found point), raised the fifty stand with a strong cover drive, and having taken 11 balls to get off the mark, reached the break with 38 off 56 deliveries.

During a frenetic morning – which included dropped catches, a comedic misfield and early signs of how the pitch is likely to only get more challenging – England’s two lynchpin batsmen, Alastair Cook and Joe Root, gifted their wickets to India, as did Moeen Ali to leave then 92 for 4 at lunch.

In the afternoon, Stokes joined the list of haphazard dismissals when he charged at and missed a straighter delivery from Ravindra Jadeja. He had begun the rebuilding job alongside his regular partner-in-crime, Bairstow, as the pair added 57 for the fifth wicket, rather than their usual sixth, which took …

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