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On Day 1 of the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope emerged victorious at the toss against his counterpart Shubman Gill and elected to field first in overcast conditions. India openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kl Rahul fell early after scoring two and 14 respectively and following their departure, the responsibility was on Sai Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill to stabilise the innings. India’s innings got interrupted by rain and both teams were forced to spend time at the dugout.
After the rain halted, both could stitch a 45-run partnership only as the miscommunication between the two led to the run out of Shubman Gill, who went back to the pavilion after notching up 21 off 35. India, after crossing the 100-run mark, were hit by Josh Tongue, who picked up the scalps of Sudharsan and Ravindra Jadeja, who smashed a ton in the previous Test. Sudharsan lost his wicket after scoring 38 off 108 while Jadeja could contribute only nine runs from his bat after consuming 13 balls. Dhruv Jurel, who is playing his maiden game in this series, was looking to settle at the crease but Gus Atkinson got the better of him and forced him to return with his score of 19 off 40.
Karun Nair and Washington Sundar expected to display fighting spirit
After the loss of six wickets at a score of 170, expectations are high from Karun Nair and Washington Sundar. Karun hadn’t produced any quality innings yet following his international comeback after eight years but in the crunch situation, he collected 52 runs with seven fours off 98 balls.
Washington Sundar is endeavouring to display his composure again in this Test as he is batting at 19 off 45. In the last game held in Manchester, he racked up his maiden red-ball century and played a vital role in helping India evade the defeat. After the opening day’s play, India have scored 204/6 in 64 overs. Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson grabbed two wickets apiece for England while the hosts’ veteran all-rounder Chris Woakes also got one scalp.
