After the row about time-wasting at Lord\u2019s came an unscheduled \u00ad10\u2011minute delay on the opening day in Manchester but this time no\u00a0one was grumbling. It ended with Rishabh\u00a0Pant being driven off on a golf buggy nursing a suspected \u00adbroken foot, the agony on his face as clear as the egg that had swollen up within seconds.<\/p>\n
This was a very Pant way to get injured, India\u2019s maverick wicketkeeper attempting a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes only to bottom edge the ball straight on to his boot. \u00adEngland burned a review for the lbw but it still proved as good as a wicket, Pant retiring on 37 and his further role in this pivotal fourth Test left very much in doubt.<\/p>\n
It changed the complexion of a hard-fought opening day or at least eased it from an English perspective. Ben Stokes won his fourth toss in succession, watched India chisel their way to 212 for three, only for the tourists to close on 264 for four<\/a> (potentially five) from 82 overs when bad light ended proceedings 10 minutes early.<\/p>\n As has become an encouraging feature of this summer, his fitness seemingly fully restored, Stokes was very much in the thick of it with the ball in hand. Having wiped out Shubman Gill for 12 during the afternoon session, England\u2019s captain then followed it up with the removal of Sai Sudharsan for a well-crafted 61. Coming moments after Pant\u2019s eye\u2011watering exit, it was a precious strike.<\/p>\n Sudharsan is an interesting cricketer. The left-hander\u2019s bat-tapping, low-slung setup is something of a throwback of a technique but his cover drives are delivered with a very modern snap of the wrists. Negotiating 151 balls and stitching India\u2019s innings together, the 23-year-old had calmly repaid the decision to draft him back in at No 3 after curiously being dropped for the games at Edgbaston and Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n For all that Sudharsan looked composed during his maiden Test half-century, a chance came and went when he had 20 to his name. Stokes had looked to target the leg-side strangle that proved his undoing at Headingley \u2013 the downside of that setup \u2013 only for Jamie Smith to dive too early and clang the chance it served up. But for this rare mistake by Smith, India would have been 139 for three in the 48th over and it was not until Stokes forced a top-edge to long leg in the 74th over that Sudharsan was finally dismissed. Thereafter it was down to the all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur to guide India to stumps, England forced to bowl spin during the final exchanges when they would have sooner taken the second new ball.<\/p>\n Sai Sudharsan expresses his fury after Ben Stokes lures him into a poor shot. Photograph: Jon Super\/AP<\/p>\n Stokes and his men seemed pretty relaxed about life when they walked off, at least, and will get this opportunity when fresh first thing. And after a buildup dominated by the niggle of Lord\u2019s \u2013 Gill even citing the spirit of cricket<\/a> during his pre-match press conference \u2013 this was an attritional day of cut and thrust between bat and ball, rather than one of heated words being traded out in the middle.<\/p>\n The only bad blood came from the crowd when Gill walked out to the middle at 120 for two and even then these were pantomime boos. It did not take long for these to turn into cheers either, Gill shouldering arms to a ball from Stokes that nipped back off the seam to trap him plumb lbw. The three reds that flashed up on the big screen after Gill\u2019s optimistic review only doubled the noise inside Old Trafford.<\/p>\n