Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin castles Mark Wood with a jaffa

Ravichandran Ashwin has been right on the money in the ongoing first Test between India and England. The first match of the five-match Test series between the teams is taking place at the Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad.

Ravichandran Ashwin has made sure that India stay at the top of the game after the shaky first hour. He drew the first blood for his team and since then hasn’t looked back. The spinner has spun a web around the batters and has put some hard questions in front of batters.

Ravichandran Ashwin was in the play in the third session of the day as well. The off-spinner sent Mark Wood packing with a sensational delivery. The batter had no clue as to what came from the bowlers and ended up seeing his stumps getting shattered and had to take a long walk back to the pavilion.

During the third ball of the 62nd over, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a slow delivery through the air. Mark Wood got down and tried to slogweep. He missed the ball altogether as it spun past his inside edge to uproot the off-stump. The ball drifted in and then moved away to leave the batter clueless.

Mark Wood tried to stitch a crucial partnership with Ben Stokes but couldn’t carry on. He scored 11 runs off 24 balls and his wicket left the team tottering at 234/9. After his wicket, skipper Stokes hit some lusty blows and counter-attacked the bowlers, making sure England gets something competitive on the board.

Ben Stokes slammed a magnificent half-century but his stay at the crease was cut short by the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah. The fast bowler bowled a delivery that slanted in and seamed away sharply from a length.

Ben Stokes came down the track and moved leg-side in the process. He was beaten comprehensively on the outside edge. He didn’t play a shot and the ball crashed into the off-stump. He ended with an innings of 70 runs off 88 balls.

England get bundled out for 246 runs; Ravichandran Ashwin picks three wickets

England won the toss and opted to bat first. They had a terrific start as Ben Duckett (35) and Zack Crawley (20) put India under immense pressure. The duo added 55 runs for the partnership and made a rousing statement. However, the introduction of spin led to their downfall.

Ravichandran Ashwin drew the first blood for his team as he sent Duckett packing. Before Ravindra Jadeja removed Ollie Pope (1). The off-spinner chipped in immediately after he removed Crawley to leave the visitors tottering at 60/3 in no time.

Joe Root (29) and Jonny Bairstow (37) then added 61 runs for the partnership and brought England back into the game. However, after their wickets, Indian spinners were all over the batters and removed them in no time, leaving them at 193/8.

Skipper Ben Stokes (70) slammed a blistering half-century and made sure that he took his team to a total of 246 runs. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with his figures of 3/68. Apart from him, Ravindra Jadeja also picked three wickets whereas Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel bagged two scalps each.

Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin Castles Mark Wood With A Jaffa