8 hours ago
Late wickets rescue England after inserting India to bat at Headingley
England grabbed a couple of wickets just as it appeared captain Ben Stokes' gamble to stick India into bat had backfired on the opening morning of the first Test.
Despite temperatures nearing 30 degrees Celsius at Headingley, Shubman Gill said he would have made the same decision as Stokes at a venue where the past six Tests have been won by the side fielding first.
It initially proved a good toss to lose as India's openers put on 91, but on the stroke of lunch Brydon Carse made the breakthrough before Stokes struck as the tourists ended the session on 92 for two.
Despite the odd play and miss, KL Rahul had looked unflustered in reaching 42 but then pushed out at Carse, who found a hint of movement away and the outside edge which was accepted by Joe Root at chest height.
That brought in debutant number three Sai Sudharsan, who lasted just four balls before he was strangled down the leg-side in the next over by Stokes from the last delivery before lunch.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, player of the series when these sides met in India 18 months ago following two double hundreds, was still there on 42 not out in his first international innings in England.
He was occasionally troubled by extra pace, left nursing a blow to the ribs from Carse and rapped on the front pad by a 90mph Josh Tongue yorker, with England burning a review on the precocious opener.
England, though, struggled to justify Stokes' decision to bowl, finding some movement but occasionally missing their lines and lengths, with Jaiswal peeling off a flurry of eye-catching drives and cuts through the off-side.
Chris Woakes was unremarkable in just his third red-ball appearance of 2025 after ankle trouble and England started to look a little short of ideas before Carse then Stokes gave the hosts some reward in sweltering conditions.
