STOKES TO THE RESCUE ONCE AGAIN

SKIPPER’S 70 HELPS ENGLAND POST DECENT SCORE BEFORE INDIA’S TOP ORDER SHOW HOW TO DO IT

- Malik Ouzia

NEW KNEE, same old Ben Stokes. Unfortunately for England, same old India, too.

On the opening day of the First Test, and his side's pursuit of cricket's most elusive success, England's captain defied the brilliance of India's spinners to keep the tourists in the early hunt.

An increasingly aggressive 70 ensured precious first use of a dry, turning pitch in Hyderabad turned into what briefly looked a par score of 246, more than England had managed in all but one innings on their previous trip.

India, though, are unbeaten in home series in more than a decade for a reason, and having watched the twirling trio of Ravichandran Ashwin (right, celebrating after taking the wicket of Ben Duckett), Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel wreak their usual havoc to share eight wickets, the home openers gave England's tweakers short shrift.

A stunning partnership between Rohit Sharma and the brilliant Yashasvi Jaiswal eroded a third of the deficit in just a dozen overs, before Jack Leach removed the former to bring small relief.

With the bat, debutant Tom Hartley had ably assisted Stokes's salvage mission, after a bright start from Duckett and Zak Crawley was almost spurned, England slipping from 55 without loss to 60 for three, and then 137 for six.