India’s Bumrah and Siraj strike early blows against England

Jasprit Bumrah struck in the first over to dismiss Rory Burns for a duck before Mohammed Siraj removed Zak Crawley, with England 61-2 at lunch on the opening day of the first Test against India at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

Dom Sibley was 18 not out after the opener batted through the session, while England captain Joe Root, who won the toss, was 12 not out after hitting three fours in 10 balls.

Root decided to bat first despite his side’s longstanding top-order problems and a green-tinged pitch that offered the promise of movement for India’s pace attack in the first match of this five-Test series.

It took India just five balls to reduce England to none for one, with left-hander Burns lbw to a Bumrah delivery that cut back in. Burns reviewed the decision but replays upheld the umpire’s call, confirming that the ball had pitched in line and would have hit the top of middle stump.

New batsman Crawley came to the crease having made just 123 runs in 12 Test innings since a brilliant 267 against Pakistan at Southampton last year.

But he was soon into his stride with cover-driven fours off Bumrah, while Sibley played and missed repeatedly against Mohammed Shami, who beat the bat with late movement but pitched fractionally too short to take the outside edge.

Crawley had been largely untroubled until the 21st over. He survived a review for lbw and caught behind, with replays showing the ball had missed the inside edge by a distance.

But three balls later, having squandered one review, India captain Virat Kohli called for the replay again after an appeal for caught behind had been turned down by umpire Richard Kettleborough.

This time the Decision Review System revealed Crawley, whose 27 featured four boundaries, had got a thin inside edge with the ball also hitting his back leg on its way through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

England were without Ben Stokes after it was announced Friday the star all-rounder would be taking an indefinite break from cricket to “prioritise his mental health”.

They were also missing a specialist spinner after omitting Jack Leach.

Meanwhile, India dropped off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Ishant Sharma after the pair had both featured in the team that lost to New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship final in Southampton in June.

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