Test of patience and perseverance

Injury scare for Pant again as Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan score fifties to take India to 264/4

- Firoz Mirza @Manchester

Day One of the fourth Test between India and England here at the Old Trafford Ground swung both ways on Wednesday as the two teams looked to outdo each other in an evenly contested battle. The visitors started brilliantly despite being asked to bat in overcast conditions, but the hosts wrested back the control every time Shubman Gill and Co looked set to break free.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (58) and B Sai Sudharsan (61) slammed a fifty each, but it was England skipper Ben Stokes who stole the limelight with his near perfect bowling changes and incisive spells that earned him important wickets in the form of Gill and Sudharsan. Injury on the right foot to wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, that forced him off the field mid-innings, didn't help India's cause either.

Earlier, Stokes once again won the toss, fourth in a row, and invited India to bat.