The dangerous Rishabh Pant is at the crease… England would love to get rid of him quickly.
He didn’t keep for most of the Lord’s Test after hurting his finger — in that match he was allowed to not keep and bat at any position because it was an external injury sustained in the match. He won’t be allowed to do that in this match because he came into the game already carrying the injury.
Stokes is looking fired up here…
What an appeal by Ben Stokes, he’s absolutely begging the umpire to give out Gill. The finger is eventually raised finger but the India captain has reviewed.
It was an extravagant leave and it’s OUT — swung in on the front pad and that’s a big, big wicket for England with 12 minutes to the tea break.
Huge cheers from the Old Trafford crowd, and Gill is ushered off with jeers of “cheerio, cheerio, cheerio”.
Jamie Smith puts down an easy to chance to remove Sai Sudharsan. A flick off the pads down the leg side is at a good height and the wicketkeeper gets all mixed up and it thuds harmlessly to the ground, leaving Smith in a heap. England will hope that’s not too costly.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceShubman Gill given a hearty welcome
The India captain was booed as he came out to bat… There’s plenty of needle in this series now, and it’s all the better for it.
Read the captain’s full thoughts about England’s actions at Lord’s here.
How Liam Dawson came in from the cold to make Test return for England
Read John Westerby’s full article on the return of Liam Dawson, who had effectively called time on his international career despite dominating the County Championship.
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And he’s back — Liam Dawson jumps with delight as he gets his first Test wicket for eight years. A bit of turn and bounce and Jaiswal’s defensive shot is a bit late. There’s an edge to Harry Brook who takes a simple catch at slip and that is a big breakthrough. The dangerous opener is gone for 58.
Shubman Gill is greeted to the crease with quite loud boos from the Old Trafford crowd — a hangover from the needle in the Lord’s Test.
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Dawson’s first over went for five. It is slow and steady going for India – the run rate is just more than three an over. Jofra Archer is continuing from the Statham End. There’s a pretty stiff breeze across the ground and it is still a bit grey, but it’s not cold and should stay dry all day.
Ben Stokes turns to spin and Liam Dawson has the ball in hand at the Sir James Anderson end for the first time in a Test since 2017. He last played on July 17, 2017 at Trent Bridge against South Africa. He’s getting a slip, a short leg and a short fine leg for the left-handed Sudharsan.
And he’s going to bowl in his sunglasses.
Brydon Carse keeps toiling
Brydon Carse is coming round the wicket from the Sir James Anderson end to Sudharsan which is a better angle to try and get the edge.
England are just going to need to be patient here, wickets are not going to be easy to come by.
This is a bit of a toil for England but they are at least containing well — the run rate is under 3 and India are by no means finding it easy to get the ball away.
Jaiswal brings up his 12th Test match half-century off Brydon Carse, coming off a scampered single. There’s a direct hit from a sharp bit of fielding but Sai Sudharsan is safely home — just.
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The touring side have brought up their hundred for the loss of one wicket. Sudharsan moves to two not out and Jaiswal is on 49.
England beating outside edge
Brydon Carse is finding a bit of joy out there after lunch. There’s a bit of nip and a bit of seam, and Jaiswal is living dangerously. A fair few deliveries have flown close to the outside edge.
Chris Woakes loves bowling in Manchester. In Test matches he’s bowled 238 overs, taking 37 wickets at 18.7 with two five-fors in there for good measure. He is only more effective at Lord’s, with an average of 14.38 there.
KL Rahul is out for 46. It’s taken a while but England have made the breakthrough via Chris Woakes, who has been consistent on a fourth stump line, and it has paid off. Rahul tried to drive off the back foot and got a thick edge to Crawley at second slip.
It’s been a dogged performance from Woakes so far today — he’s bowled a good line and found a bit of movement.
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We’re all fed and watered and ready to get going again. India resuming on 78-0 after 26 overs in the first session. Rahul will take strike and Carse has the ball in hand. He wasn’t at his best this morning, but a change of ends to the Sir James Anderson end might help.
Statement from Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire have blamed supporters for arriving “very late” after multiple complaints about long queues outside Old Trafford.
A statement from the club said: “We are aware that some supporters experienced queues getting into Emirates Old Trafford this morning, which we apologise for. We saw nearly 9,000 supporters arrive at the ground very late despite encouraging early arrival, with all bags subject to searches on entry.
“The Club will be looking at increasing the number of gates for the rest of the Test Match. We strongly encourage ticket buyers to only bring bags if required, and if doing so to arrive as early as possible. Gates will be open at 9am for the rest of the game.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul have been near constant sources of trouble for England, with at least one of them making a half-century or more in all but one innings before today’s match began.
England have some work to do to remove them before they do any more damage after lunch.
And that’s lunch. India will be very pleased with having got there without losing a wicket after being put in by Stokes. It’s not been easy and they’ve played and missed a fair bit, but have the chance to keep building.
The battle between Archer and Jaiswal is fun — a very sharp well-directed bouncer forces the India opener almost down on to his backside trying to duck beneath it. But manages to get his blade there and ramp the ball over the slips. It hurried him though — not sure he knew exactly what was going on, but the ball found the middle of the bat, much to Jofra’s irritation.
Jofra Archer back in to attack
Archer is back at the Brian Statham end as England look for the breakthrough. We’re 20 minutes from lunch.
Sore one for Jofra Archer
A slight moment of concern as Jofra Archer dives to save a boundary and lands in a heap. He takes a moment to get back up again. It looked as though he jarred his knee in the soft ground after all the rain, but he’s up and about again and seems fine.
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The next ball is a short one, banged in by Brydon Carse. It’s hooked aerially by Jaiswal but it lands safely in the deep.
Alastair Cook: It’s not as if this is Old Trafford’s first Test
The issue with people not being able to get into the ground is being discussed on Test Match Special on BBC Radio 5.
“It’s not as if this is their first Test match” Sir Alastair Cook says. “Something has gone very very wrong”.
Read the full story on the Times website here.
Massive lbw appeal against KL Rahul — an inswinger from Stokes strikes him on the pads, but Jamie Smith advises his captain against reviewing, thinks it’s darting down past leg stump which it probably was.
India are 48 without loss after 17 overs.
Ben Stokes into the attack
England staying on the attack with three slips and a gully and it’s a testing period for the India openers — the run rate is a very sedate 2.9 an over, but crucially no wickets yet.
Stokes has brought himself on to try and get the breakthrough but KL Rahul is looking very solid in defence — he plays with soft hands and likes playing the ball late.
Second bite of the cherry…
Quite an amusing scorecard in the England v India U-19 youth Test at Chelmsford this week… In the first innings, both England openers fell for a duck, with BJ Dawkins being dismissed with the first ball of the match.
The second innings, however, couldn’t be more different. The same pair have put on 160 for no loss. Makes you wonder why they couldn’t do it the first time.
On the Indian side, everyone’s favourite youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi made 20 from 14 balls, including two sixes and a four.
Great spot for a tea break
There’s been plenty of building work going at Old Trafford in recent years, and these workers surely have one of the best viewpoints at the ground today.
India’s openers survive the first hour. A couple of scares but nothing too troubling, it’s been fairly even out there. They are 42-0.
Woakes hits Jaiswal on the pads, it’s given not out on the field and Ben Stokes decides not to review. Woakes reckons he heard two noises. It’s a good decision from both the umpire and Stokes – the bat was close to the pad but he’s absolutely cracked an inside edge.
Brydon Carse replaces Jofra Archer from the Sir James Anderson end. Just waiting for the Barmy Army trumpeter to strike up Cars.
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Josh Tongue is going to leave the squad at Lunch time and play for Nottinghamshire in the last two days of their championship match. Jacob Bethell, is, however, staying with the team and won’t go and play for Warwickshire.
There are some serious issues with people being able to get into the ground, the queues are snaking all round the ground and right up the Great Stone Road for about a mile. I went out and talked to a few people.
One woman said to me “this is f***ing ridiculous we have been queuing for 45 minutes, no one will come and talk to us and no one has even come to explain what is going on.”
Another man wearing an India shirt said, “I’ve paid a lot of money for my tickets, I was here by 10.30 and I am still not in the ground and I am missing the cricket. What is going on?”
Old Trafford have said to me that it is because of bag searches. Every bag is being searched but that is standard at all grounds and didn’t cause an issue at any of the other venues so far in the series. The ECB have been approached for comment.
A bouncer from Woakes has smashed into the bat handle of Yashasvi Jaiswal, and the opener has to call for a new one. Shows how much zip there is in this pitch.
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A cut that flashes between gully and cover point to the fence brings up KL Rahul’s 1,000th Test run in England. He’s having a great series.
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Steady start from Jaiswal and Rahul
The England bowlers have found a bit of movement off the deck, but the openers have survived so far. Meanwhile, fans are struggling to get in the ground, hence the big number of empty seats around Old Trafford this morning.
The sun is breaking through here in Manchester and the 12th man has had to run out to collect six jumpers that have been discarded by the England players (Elizabeth Ammon writes). Here in the press box I might even have to take my cardi off.
Chris Woakes’ strong record
Chris Woakes has a very good record at Old Trafford — he averages more than 35 with the bat and has taken 35 wickets in eight matches at an average a little over 17.
India survive opening two overs
Four from the first over off Woakes from the James Anderson end, all of which a streaky edge through the slips to the fence from Jaiswal (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Archer from the Brian Statham end is getting some late swing away from both the left and right handers.
In 85 Old Trafford Tests, no team has opted to bowl first and won. No pressure, Ben Stokes…Jofra Archer opening from Brian Statham end
Jofra Archer has the ball and KL Rahul, one of the players of the series, is on strike. Archer will be hoping to continue his good form after a four-year break from Test cricket.
Farokh Engineer rings the bell
The Lancashire legend, who today has had a stand named after him at Old Trafford, gave the five-minute bell a ring this morning. A talented wicketkeeper-batsman, he also played 46 Test matches for India. Sir Clive Lloyd joined him, and also had part of the stand named after him.
Chris Woakes to open the bowling
The 36-year-old has the ball in hand, and Yashasvi Jaiswal is on strike. He fell cheaply twice at Lord’s.
It’s filling up steadily here, although by no means have all the spectators got themselves into the ground yet.
Players and officials are lined up on the field and Laura Wright is in place to lead the national anthems. It’s not warm out there and every England player has either a long sleeve or short sleeve jumper on.
With that result in the middle this morning, India have lost 14 international tosses in a row…
According to Benedict Bermange, the Sky Sports stats guru, the odds of that happening are 16,384/1. When your luck’s out…
The importance of a wagging tail
Our own Steve James has already written in this series about the importance of lower-order runs, inspired by Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse (Elgan Alderman writes). It is notable that the addition of Liam Dawson to England’s XI has strengthened the tail further.
Infamously, England fielded a tail of No11s in Ed Giddins (first-class average 5.28), Alan Mullally (8.59) and Phil Tufnell (9.69) at the Oval in 1999, with Andy Caddick (14.89) a cut above at No8.
Now, behind the impressive Smith at No7, England have Dawson at No8, with a first-class average of 35.29 and 18 centuries. Below him are Chris Woakes (31.05, 10 centuries), Carse (29.34, two centuries) and Jofra Archer (22.56, six fifties) at No11 – albeit Archer’s Test returns are worthy of that status at the very bottom. Has the tail ever been so promising?
A look at India’s debutant…
Anshul Kamboj, the 24-year-old who is making his Test debut this morning, took ten wickets in an innings for Haryana against Kerala in a Ranji Trophy match last season.
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That is four out of four tosses that Stokes has won this series — he says the pitch is a “typical Manchester one” — firm, bit of grass on it (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
But every County Championship match that has been played here this season has been a draw – so potentially flat, flat, flat. It’s totally overcast overhead England will be hoping to find a bit of swing.
A reminder of the morning’s crucial stat
No team has ever won a Test match at Old Trafford having won the toss and electing to bowl first. Ben Stokes clearly backs him and his team to make history – they’re getting used to doing that.
Team news from India camp
Shubman Gill confirms that Sai Sudharsan is back, replacing Karun Nair at No3. Injury issues in the bowling department – Nitish Kumar Reddy and one of the standout players at Edgbaston Akash Deep are ruled out through injury, so Shardul Thakur comes in, and there’s a debut for the all-rounder Anshul Kamboj.
Shubman Gill: It’s a good toss to lose
The India captain tells Ravi Shastri in the middle that he’d had a look at the forecast and the pitch and he reckons it’s a good toss to lose…
“The surface looks pretty good, nice and hard.”
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceBen Stokes wins the toss and bowls
The England captain wins his fourth toss of four and wants to have a go at making history… he’s elected to put India in under cloudy skies.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceShubman Gill: England’s time-wasting was not in spirit of the game
The India captain criticised Zak Crawley’s tactics during the third Test at Lord’s when the England opener limited bowling side to only one over before close of play on day three.
More from Elizabeth Ammon here.
The England batsman Harry Brook said this week that the coach Brendon McCullum had told his team that they were too nice, so the home side took a decision to “go back at India”.
Read the Yorkshireman’s full quotes here.
From betting ban to key Ashes weapon, the redemption of Brydon Carse
A close relationship with his captain has helped the Durham bowler overcome off-field issues to become an integral part of England’s attack for both this series and the winter down under — and he was even prepared to lose a toe for the cause.
Read Steve James’s full piece on the fast bowler here.
Carse, left, and Stokes are mates from Durham, and have a close relationship
DARREN STAPLES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
There isn’t any yet. Unlike England, who announce their team two days before each Test, India wait until the toss to finalise their XI.
What’s almost certain however is that the world’s best bowler Jasprit Bumrah will play the last of his allotted three Tests here, with the series on the line.
Bumrah has been managing his workload during this series
ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES
India have lost the two Tests Bumrah has played during this series at Headingley and Lord’s.
No team has won opting to bowl first at Old Trafford: over to you, Ben
Ben Stokes loves to bowl first in Test matches on home soil, but he will fly in the face of history if he wins the toss and puts India into bat on Wednesday. Old Trafford has been staging Tests since 1884 but remarkably no team has ever won here after electing to bowl (Simon Wilde writes).
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES
Stokes went against his usual instincts in choosing to bat first at Lord’s last week and it paid off as strokeplay became harder as the game went on, England winning a hard-fought game by 22 runs, but on ten of the previous 11 occasions he had won the toss at home since being appointed permanent captain in 2022, he had opted to bowl.
• Simon Wilde: No team has won opting to bowl first at Old Trafford: over to you, Ben
Expect more fireworks — needle makes this contest even more compelling
“Cricket is a team sport played by individuals. It’s actually more of an individual sport than one thinks.” Kevin Pietersen’s musings on social media this week tackled one of the enduring fascinations of a team sport where results can be transformed by single acts of brilliance and performances of an individual and solitary nature (Mike Atherton writes).
Running a cricket team is endlessly fascinating as a result because of the need to balance often-conflicting forces of individuality — players require the space to be themselves in order to perform at their best — set against collective effort and common goals. Sometimes these forces are in magical harmony and sometimes they clash dramatically, two extremes that Pietersen experienced in his playing days.
• Mike Atherton: Expect more fireworks — needle makes this contest even more compelling
It’s about 16C at present at Emirates Old Trafford — and there is a small chance that rain could disrupt play today. According to the Met Office, there is about a 10 per cent chance of rain when the toss takes place at about 10.30am. The chance of rain is then set to increase throughout the day, peaking at about a 30 per cent chance at 5pm.
It’s grey and chilly but not raining
Good morning from Emirates Old Trafford, where it is grey and a bit chilly but most importantly it’s not raining — and if the Met Office is to be believed it is going to stay dry all day (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
The pitch is uncovered and it looks a bit odd — patches of green in between straw coloured, it looks a bit soggy from where I am sitting although I am not a grass expert. No team has ever inserted the opposition and won the match in the history of Test cricket at Old Trafford. Join me for updates on and off the pitch throughout the day.
MI NEWS & SPORT /ALAMY