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Centuries from Captain Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja guided India's rescue on Day 1 after a poor start at the newly renamed Niranjan Shah Stadium. After winning the toss in Rajkot, India opted to bat but were quickly put on the mat with a fiery new-ball spell by Mark Wood and James Anderson. The experienced pace duo extracted swing and seam to ransack the Indian top order.
Wood emerged as the star with the new ball as he dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, in quick succession and reduced India to 24-2. Soon, Tom Hartley joined the party and produced a soft dismissal to send back newcomer Rajat Patidar at a score of five in 15 balls.
With the Men in Blue languishing at 33-3, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja posted a solid 204-run stand to get India back into the game. Despite passages of struggles, Sharma ended his six-month century draught to reach his 11th Test ton in 157 balls.
Though Rohit Sharma fell prey to Mark Wood, debutant Sarfaraz Khan stepped and continued increasing the scoring rate with a dazzling approach. Batting alongside Jadeja, Khan zoomed to his maiden half-century in 48 balls as the duo posted another crucial 77-run stand.
But this dream debut was soon cut short after a miscommunication between Jadeja and Khan led to the 26-year-old getting run out heartbreakingly. As Sarfaraz walked back after scoring 62 in 66 with nine fours and two sixes, Kuldeep Yadav came as the night watchman. Soon Jadeja, also completed his ton before India ended Day 1 at 326-5 in 86 overs.
