Mark Wood Shines, but England Spinners Struggle on Day One Against India

Mark Wood was nothing short of extraordinary in the first hour of play on Thursday on a field that offered little help to bowlers on the first day.

Even though James Anderson wasn't particularly lethal, he applied pressure to Indian skipper Rohit Sharma's bowling.


After Wood dismissed both of India's top batsmen, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, taking full advantage of the morning dew on the pitch, England seemed to have the game under control. However, in his second Test match, Rajat Patidar produced a poor shot that gave Tom Hartley the wicket.

England was leading India, who were behind at 33/3. Though Rohit and Jadeja were exceptional throughout their partnership of two centuries, English spinners Hartley and Rehan Ahmed were similarly unimpressive.

Indeed, the level terrain made their work more difficult. Though they were unable to remove wickets, the spin pair should have at least maintained more pressure on Rohit and Jadeja so that Wood and Anderson could continue to apply pressure.

Rohit, Jadeja, and debutant Sarfaraz Khan were all fed by Hartley and Rehan, who each made a few subpar deliveries that were all dismissed. Joe Root wasn't much better, either, taking on more responsibility with the ball than a part-time employee could.

Hartley, Rehan, and Root bowled 50 overs together and gave up 202 runs, which let India, who had won the toss, score a respectable amount in the first innings.

But instead of criticizing their spinners, the visitors would rather refer to it as "a hard-fought day."

"We had a terrific start.

A little amount of activity occurred this morning. Something a little more stylish. Because there was some moisture on the surface, the ball scuttled a little. Woody and Jimmy were great. However, as the ball becomes softer, it is doing less work, according to England's Test assistant coach Paul Collingwood.

"The spinners worked hard all day with hardly much pay. However, they will always receive a reaction when they have as good of hitters as the Indian team has.

Collingwood said, "Nobody ever wants to drop catches, and the beauty about the game is you've got to try to make more opportunities," in reference to Root's lost catch that allowed Rohit off early in the day.

You have to take chances to try and generate opportunities on wickets that aren't producing much. I believed that we worked hard all day.

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