England crawl to 199 for 5 in 97 overs on a sluggish opening day

Kevin Pietersen top scored for England with a patient knock of 73

England batting first after winning the toss for the first time in the series were restricted to 199 for 5 on the opening day’s play of the Fourth Airtel Test against India at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur today. India going with as many as four spinners in its line-up which includes all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja sent down 97 overs in the day’s play! England were in trouble as they could not break free on a sluggish pitch at Nagpur which was full of cracks on the first day itself. Kevin Pietersen played an important knock of 73 from 188 balls (10x4s) to rescue the visitors who are 2-1 up in the Test Series.

For India, Ishant Sharma, the lone seamer in the team provided a great start removing openers Nick Compton and Alastair Cook cheaply. Jonathan Trott scored a patient 44 from 133 balls while taking England past the three figures with Kevin Pietersen. Trott was clean bowled after leaving an arm ball from debutant Ravindra Jadeja. Leggie Piyush Chawla in his comeback Test had Ian Bell (1) caught driving uppishly to covers.

In the final session, India had England at 139 for 5 when Kevin Pietersen departed as he charged down the track and flicked Jadeja into the hands of Pragyan Ojha at mid wicket. There were no further wickets for India as the pair of debutant Joe Root (31*) and Matt Prior (34*) saw off the evening safely.

Both the sides made a couple of changes each from the Kolkata Test. England had brought in Joe Root and Tim Bresnan in the place of Samit Patel and Steven Finn who has been ruled out with a back injury. India got in Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla to fill the void created by the axing of Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan from the squad.