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L-R: Former England skipper Alastair Cook and current England captain Ben Stokes. (REUTERS/X)
England skipper Ben Stokes’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss in the first Test at Headingley in Leeds on Friday seemed to have gone India’s way after openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on a 91-run stand for the opening wicket. Although two quick wickets against the run of play just before lunch shifted the momentum back to the home side, former England captain Alastair Cook still seems unconvinced by Stokes’s decision to bowl and felt it was a good toss to lose for Shubman Gill-led India.
FOLLOW: IND vs ENG LIVE SCORE, 1st Test Day 1
“The fact it’s so hot… If you bowl first and don’t bowl them out, you’re bowling all day. England are guaranteed to bowl all day, and probably a bit tomorrow, looking at the conditions, unless India don’t bat as well as they’ve started. Therefore, you’re backing up. Say India bat 120 overs. They only have to bowl for two sessions (on day two). You feel like you can control the game more if you bat first,” said Cook to the BBC’s Test Match Special.
Jaiswal and Rahul played solid cricket for the first 24 overs, making it the first instance in the last seven Tests at Headingley where a wicket didn’t fall in the first 10 overs of the game. It was also the first fifty-plus opening stand in the first innings of a Leeds Test since Graeme Smith & Alviro Petersen’s 120-run stand in 2012.
What did Ben Stokes say at the toss?
After winning the toss, Stokes elected to field first and said, “We’ll bowl. Headingley is a very good cricket wicket. We’ve had some really good games here. Want to try and use the early conditions. Been a long time coming, bit strange that this is just the second series but we’re ready. It’s been mixed, some lads have played county cricket, we’ve had three days of really good cricket. Usual suspects in the top seven, Woakes, Brydon, Bashir, Tongue and myself make up the bowling.”
India skipper Gill said, “We would’ve bowled first as well, might be a bit tough in the first session but it should be good to bat on later. Sun is out, should be a good batting deck for us. Preparation has been amazing, we played a practice game in Beckenham, lads are feeling great. Sai makes his debut, Karun comes in. Sai will bat at three.”
India were 92/2 at Lunch after Rahul fell for 42 and debutant Sai Sudharsan was strangled down leg by Stokes.
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