After going wicketless in the first session, England’s tenacious lines and some movement assistance allowed them to take three wickets in the second session. Among the wickets taken by Chris Woakes, Liam Dawson, and Ben Stokes were KL Rahul (46), Yashasvi Jaiswal (58), and Shubman Gill (12), respectively, as India entered tea at 149 for 3 on the first day of the Manchester Test, with 71 runs scored during the session.
Jaiswal started the second session with hitting fours off Brydon Carse through points. The partnership ended on 94 as Rahul attempted to edge a Woakes delivery to third slip by punching it off the backfoot. Jaiswal and Rahul also put up India’s highest opening stand in this series. Jaiswal and No. 3 Sai Sudharsan were both being probed outside off by the English pacers, but the former was able to go to 49 by guiding a shorter one from Carse to the third-man fence.Jaiswal reached fifty and Sudharsan got off the mark with a pair. Both hitters also hit a couple of fours. When Liam Dawson was eventually added to the attack, the left-arm spinner hit Jaiswal’s bat edge, but the ball slipped. In contrast, Jaiswal became the second-fastest Indian hitter to reach 1000 Test runs, surpassing England in the process.
Early in the second hour of the second session, Dawson got Jaiswal to edge to slip, ending the promising partnership. After that, Sudharsan and Gill started the rebuilding process, playing cautiously together at first before hitting the spinner for boundaries. Stokes, who was aiming for the specific line the left-hander was vulnerable to, gave Sudharsan a reprieve when Jamie Smith put him down the leg side. However, Stokes soon achieved success when he trapped Gill in front of him, causing him to shoulder arms. The Indian captain also cost his team a review. Stokes missed Sudharsan, who almost let leg-slip a catch but also pulled one for a four. Before the break, Sudharsan and Rishabh Pant made sure there was no more damage.
Earlier, India got off to a great start at Old Trafford on a cloudy morning, scoring 78 for 0 at lunchtime. For the fourth match in a row, England captain Stokes chose to bowl after winning the toss. India made three changes: Sudharsan replaced Karun Nair, Shardul Thakur took Nitish Reddy’s place, and Anshul Khamboj made his Test debut in lieu of Akash Deep. The hosts made one change, replacing Shoaib Bashir with Dawson.
Even though the England bowlers had some challenging spells, Rahul and Jaiswal made sure the session ended without any wickets. Jaiswal responded with assured strokes, including a boundary past mid-off and a six off Stokes, but Woakes beat his bat twice in the first over and even broke the handle later. Rahul, on the other hand, picked up loose deliveries for boundaries with a calm knock. Rahul and Jaiswal eliminated the threat with Carse and Stokes, as well as Jofra Archer late in the session, after Archer had bowled a sparse opening spell.
