Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel bagged seven wickets between them as India dismissed England for 205 on day one of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.
Despite suffering a heavy defeat in the previous encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Joe Root opted to bat again after winning the toss.
Deja vu reigned, though, as the visitors’ batsmen struggled to get going due to excellent exploitation of the pitch by the Indians.
Patel struck early with the wickets of openers Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley before Mohammed Siraj sent Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow packing.
Ben Stokes, however, got stuck in and managed to kickstart the England innings somewhat with a decent half-century.
He would fall shortly after for 55 when Washington Sundar trapped the left-hander in front.
Washington Sundar strikes ?
He has claimed the big wicket of Ben Stokes, trapping him in front for 55. England are 121/5!#INDvENG | https://t.co/6OuUwURcgX pic.twitter.com/30CMHXxVgM
— ICC (@ICC) March 4, 2021
Ollie Pope added 29 and Dan Lawrence batted pretty well for his 46 but that was as good as it got for England. Ashwin and Patel ripped through the tail as England barely managed 200, the first time they’ve done so since the first innings of the first test.
Patel finished with figures of 4-64, while Ashwin claimed 3-45. Siraj tallied two scalps of his own and Sundar just the one.
In reply, James Anderson gave England the perfect start, though, trapping Shubman Gil in front for a duck with the third ball.
Rohit Sharma (8) and Cheteshwar Pujara saw out the rest of the overs as India made stumps on 24-1, still trailing England by 181 runs.
