IND vs ENG Live Score, 5th Test Day 1: Pant, Jadeja fifty-run stand takes India to 150 after Anderson, Potts dent middle-order

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage of the fifth Test between India and England from Edgbaston in Birmingham.

COMMENTARY UPDATES

IND 150/5 in 38 overs: Pant lays into Leach, along expected line. 14 runs from the over as Pant hammers two fours and a six. First steps out to the pitch of the ball and crashes this flighted one down the ground. He then pulls a short one to backward square leg before stepping out again and crashing a six down the ground. Fifty partnership up in 54 balls. Broad continues to lure Jadeja outside off and the latter keeps resisting.

IND 134/5 in 36 overs: Full one from Anderson and Jadeja unleashes a delectable on-drive to find four at the long-on boundary. Pant flicks a full one on the toes to mid-wicket for three more as Potts parries it back just inside the boundary line. The partnership between Pant and Jadeja is now worth 32 runs. Another four by Jadeja as Broad goes full and wide outside off. He then induces another drive outside off and Jadeja is beaten. Broad continues to dangle the carrot outside off, but Jadeja doesn’t oblige and shoulders arms. 

IND 121/5 in 34 overs: Broad overpitches on middle and Jadeja stands firm and gently pushes this through mid-on for a FOUR. Exquisite shot! Another full one on the pads and Jadeja clips it through midwicket for three more. Another FOUR to end the over! Half-volley from Broad outside off and Pant leans into the drive with a straight bat and creams this through covers for four more. Broad concedes 36 from his first 10. 

IND 109/5 in 32 overs: Leach taken out after the one over. Anderson replaces him. Over the wicket to Jadeja. He constantly hones in on middle and leg and shapes the ball in to Jadeja, looking to trap him on the front pad. Edged behind, caught, but not out! Joe Root seems to have grassed this catch in the slips. Angling in on a good length in the channel, straightens a bit and Jadeja pokes to edge it behind.  Stokes slips at mid-off and seems to have hurt his back and is clutching it gingerly. Time for a drinks break.

IND 107/5 in 30 overs: India gets to 100 off a misfield at extra cover. Leach comes into the attack and Pant is at him from the word go. Jadeja steps out and turns this into a half-volley to loft this over Leach and to the long on boundary for four.  With both left-handers on strike, Broad comes into the attack from around the wicket. Just two from the over. Pant doesn’t curb his natural game however.  Steps out to Broad and gets an inside edge to fine-leg for a single.

IND 98/5 in 28 overs: Shreyas and Pant are shifting gears. Both punish Potts’ indiscretion in length. Pant drives through mid-off for three before Shreyas cashes in on a full one on off with an extra cover drive for four runs. Pant steps out to Anderson next over to crash one down the ground for another boundary. OUT! Shreyas goes and he will be kicking himself after that dismissal! He looked in good touch but ended up getting a bit of bat trying to tuck a short ball to the wicketkeeper. Billings takes a stunner diving to his left. Shreyas Iyer c Sam Billings b James Anderson 15(11b 3×4).

IND 86/4 in 26 overs: Shreyas and Pant in the middle. Shreyas gets off to a quick start after Kohli falls. He drives a full one by Potts down the ground for a first-ball four before slashing wide outside off for another boundary and racing to 10 off four balls. Anderson keeps it short from the other end and also tests Shreyas with a bounce, which he awkwardly ducks under.

OUT! Kohli chops on! He goes for the leave outside off again but is a little late in getting his bat out of the way and the ball crashes into the stumps off the inside edge. Virat Kohli b Matthew Potts 11(19b 2×4).

IND 69/3 in 23 overs: OUT! Vihari is rapped on the front pad and he goes. Comes in from a good length and his him straight on, just below the knee roll. He doesn’t review this. Hanuma Vihari lbw b Potts 20(53b 1×4). Pant is off to a tentative start. He wants a single off the first ball but Kohli refuses and then gets an inside edge onto his pad. He is off the mark with a flick off off the pads for one at square leg. FOUR! Good shot! Short and straight and Kohli slightly shuffles across and tucks it off his body for a boundary at fine-leg.

IND 62/2 in 22 overs: Anderson from the other end. Five slips in place. Keeps it short and outside off. Five runs from the over. Vihari first punches off the backfoot and then dabs to third man for three.

IND 57/2 in 21 overs: Back after a long break. Good news is that it is bright and sunny out there now. Potts steams in to Kohli, who gets a lucky inside edge that just misses the stumps and runs to the fine leg boundary. The following two balls are still back of a length and outside off and Kohli is happy to leave. Next one angles in and Kohli defends it before leaving the last one of the over outside off again. Maiden over.

INDIA 53/2 IN 20.1 OVERS AT LUNCH (Vihari 14*, Kohli 1*; Anderson 2-15)

Revised timings: Second session – 18:45 IST to 20:45 IST. Third session – 21:05 IST to 23:00 IST. Play can be extended till 23:30 IST. In total, 84 overs will have to be bowled today.

18:25 IST: Conditions are fit for play to resume at 18:45 IST.

18:17 IST: Another light spell of rain at Edgbaston just as there was going to be an inspection.

17:53 IST: Next inspection at 18:15 IST. Wet outfield continues to be a hindrance.

17:45 IST: The covers are still on but a wet outfield continues to delay the resumption of play.

17:35 IST: The rain has stopped but a heavy cloud cover means it is too dark right now for play to resume. There will be an inspection at 17:45 IST.

17:20 IST: The scheduled lunch break is over but it it still raining. Looks like the wait will have to continue.

LUNCH ON DAY 1: A productive session for England. Anderson nipped out Pujara and Gill in that first session which has been cut short by showers. Potts, Anderson and Broad have shared the ball so far. Potts has been on the money. Kohli is at the crease. Kohli vs Anderson after Lunch sounds tantalising, doesn’t it? We will be back shortly.

RAIN STOPS PLAY

IND 46/2 in 18 overs: Broad has been replaced by Anderson. Potts continues to test Vihari, induces a nick that falls well short of Joe Root at first slip. This pitch is very slow which will be a concern for India’s four seamers. Potts nearly has his man as Vihari edges to the second slip where Zak Crawley goes one-handed and fluffs it. But Anderson gets his second wicket as Pujara edges one to slip in the 18th over; Crawley makes instant amends for his previous drop. Virat Kohli marches out. Right then, Kohli v Anderson, again!

IND 43/1 in 14 overs: Potts beats Pujara with a beauty. A short of a length ball that’s angling in but holds its line after pitching and beats Pujara on the outside edge. Pujara survives a run out chance next over. Vihari pushed the ball towards mid-on and took off for a single. Pujara, meanwhile, is watching the ball and is late to respond; makes it in the end but a direct hit at the striker’s end and he was gone. Both men aren’t the quickest between the wickets. Broad bowls a wide one and Pujara flays a cut shot for four. Pujara is given out caught behind next ball of the 14th over! But he reviews and replays confirm that the ball had brushed the thigh-pad and the ball was going over the stumps as well. Meanwhile, Broad has bowled unchanged with figures of 7-1-21-0. Broad’s wait for his 550th Test wicket continues.

DRINKS BREAK

IND 31/1 in 10 overs: Huge appeal for lbw against Vihari first ball. Anderson gets one to seam back in but that was going down leg side. Next ball, Vihari is hit on the pads again but an inside edge saves him. Anderson briefly operated with four slips and a leg slip to Pujara, who has defended well against the moving Dukes ball so far. The time with Sussex has surely helped. Pujara rotating strike with singles. After the first half-hour, where it looked like not much was happening, Broad and Anderson have strung together a series of good overs. Matthew Potts replaces Anderson – 5-1-13-1 – and has a crack at Vihari with five slips.

GONE! Anderson gets the breakthrough. Gill caught at second slip. He goes for a 17-ball 24.

IND 26/0 in 6 overs: The ball’s not quite carrying through right now. Low bounce already suggesting the wicket’s a bit on the slower side. In seven innings as an opener, before this Test, Pujara averages 98. He gets his first four down the ground as Broad overpitches outside off in the fourth over and pays the price. Gill, meanwhile, collects another four off Anderson as he drives a half-volley through mid-off. Next over, Broad drops short and Gill pulls it through square leg for four more. One dot later, Gill opens the face of the bat and guides a wide short of a length ball to the third man fence for another four.

IND 5/0 in 2 overs: Stuart Broad to share the new ball with Anderson. Pujara on strike. Broad starts with a front foot no-ball. Broad starts with a few nipbackers. Pujara happy to shoulder arms. Now a couple of outswingers. Pujara has no business putting his bat at those. Just one off the over. Indian openers leaving well so far.

IND 4/0 in 1 over: Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara walk out to open. Pujara had a rewarding outing with Susex, where he hit four hundreds in five games. James Anderson with the new ball. Four slips and a gully for Gill. Anderson starts off with innocuous outswingers. Anderson strays on the pads on the last ball and Gill flicks it away past mid-on for his first four of the match.

2:30pm: Ben Stokes has won the toss and England will bowl first.

Toss coming up in less than five minutes.

1:57pm: The focus will also be on Virat Kohli. Kohli’s 27th Test hundred, 70th in all international cricket, came in Kolkata in November 2019 against Bangladesh. Can he add to the tally at Edgbaston?

1:46pm: Good noon, all. Following a Covid-19-induced break, we are finally all systems go for the fifth and final Test of the five-match series featuring India and England. India will be without regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who failed to recover from Covid in time for this Test. Bumrah will lead in his absence. India goes up against a turbo-charged England side, which whitewashed New Zealand in the recent three-match Test series. Led by a new captain in Ben Stokes and a new coach in Brendon McCullum, England have promised an aggressive brand of cricket in Test whites. Just a reminder for everyone: India leads the series 2-1. Both sides wear a different look than the last time they squared off against each other in a five-day game. Also, for Stokes, this is his first game in this series.

PREVIEW

Never before has he navigated the choppy waters of leadership, but Jasprit Bumrah will certainly like to showcase his captaincy acumen while leading a slightly under-prepared India against a vastly improved England in the rescheduled fifth Test, starting in Birmingham on Friday.

Full preview here – (READ)

India captain Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the Edgbaston Test against England after failing to recover from Covid-19 in time. Jasprit Bumrah will captain the side. Rishabh Pant will be his deputy – (READ)

What India captain Bumrah said:

“We don’t look at the past. Whatever cricket game you play, you want to win, right? We never play any game to lose or just to compete or play for a draw. We want to play for a win. What has happened in the past, that’s all gone. We try to be in the moment.”

TRIVIA

India has never won a Test at Edgbaston, losing six and drawing one on the 1986 tour.

Bumrah is the first fast bowler to captain India’s Test team since Kapil Dev in 1987.