Bowlers blunt England's Bazball instinct on Day 1

The visitors made a quick start but were quickly brought back to the ground by the Indian spin trio

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

HYDERABAD: If the England batters needed any reminder of the challenge on their hands in this series against India, they got it within minutes of the introduction of spin on Day 1 of the first Test match being played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Off to a solid start against the new ball pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley raced away to a partnership of 55 inside 12 overs with a flurry of fours. But no sooner were R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja introduced into the attack, England lost three wickets for five runs in a five over period from 12 to 16th over.

In what promises to be an exciting contest between two attacking teams, there was no shortage of drama on the day. Out to prove that Bazball works in all conditions, England had their captain Ben Stokes to thank for thwarting the Indian spin combination of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel from running through their side.

After the spin troika had reduced the visitors to 155/7, Stokes' counter-attacking 70 off 88 balls helped them to a total of 246.

But the rest of the batters had another harrowing experience dealing with the spin combination of Ashwin & Co. There were just two fifty run partnerships. After the opening pair's 55, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow added 61 runs for the fourth wicket. The pitch red turn but it was slow and played fine on Day 1.