Openers ride their luck to give India a strong start

Indian openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided their team a solid start on an overcast morning in Manchester, ensuring a wicketless session for England. Both were unbeaten, Rahul on 40 and Jaiswal on 36, as India moved to 78/0 at Lunch on Day 1 of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.

England captain Ben Stokes won the toss for the fourth successive time in this series and asked India to bat first. Liam Dawson replacing Shoaib Bashir, announced by England earlier, was the only change for the hosts while India made three changes - Sai Sudharsan replaced Karun Nair at No.3, Shardul Thakur was brought in for Nitish Reddy while Anshul Khamboj was handed his maiden Test cap in place of Akash Deep.

Chris Woakes found the outside edge of Jaiswal's bat twice in the opening over but both landed short of slips, with the second one helping the left-hander get off the mark with a boundary. Rahul played a pull shot in front of square off Woakes for his first four. While the Indian openers weren't able to score freely off Jofra Archer, Woakes was conceding boundaries, with Jaiswal also playing a pull shot, but he was also squared up and then beaten outside off. The first positive shot off Archer was a cover drive by Rahul for three and the right-hander also hit a boundary past point off Woakes.

There was a good battle between Woakes and Jaiswal leading into the first drinks break. The seamer beat the bat repeatedly and even snapped Jaiswal's bat handle with a sharp nip-backer that kicked up off the surface. Jaiswal responded with a confident drive past mid-off for four. At the other end, the Indian batters negotiated Archer's opening spell, during which he conceded only 7 runs in 5 overs without success. Brydon Carse replaced him and was greeted by a crisp cover drive for two by Rahul, but responded with a probing short-of-length spell. In his next over, Rahul picked the point region for a couple and then a boundary, helping India safely through the first hour without any loss.

Woakes bowled one over after the break, alongside Carse, before Ben Stokes brought himself on and rapped Rahul on the pad, although England did not go for the review. Jaiswal was beaten on the cut by Carse but managed to carve one away between third slip and gully for a four, bringing up the 50 for India. Archer came back on late in the first session and bowled in tandem with Stokes, with the two mixing short and full deliveries. Jaiswal managed to cut away one from Stokes for a boundary but he was on the ground as he edged a short ball from Archer over slips. He also upper cut a Stokes delivery for a six as the openers saw through a good opening session for India.