England, Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook of England is bowled by Ravichandran Aswhin. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

In the first Test match of five-match series, England captain Joe Root after winning the toss decided to bat first. The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli once again sprung the surprise.

Keaton Jennings, Ajinkya Rahane
Keaton Jennings looked in good touch since the drop catch. Getty Images

Kohli decided to go with KL Rahul instead of Chetheshwar Pujara, who serves as the Test specialist. Shikhar Dhawan will open the innings alongside Murali Vijay as Dinesh Karthik find his name in the playing XI as a first-choice gloveman.

India, Birmingham, England
England had a good start to the Test series. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

The most debatable person of the tour so far, Kuldeep Yadav lost to make it as skipper gave a nod to ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. It is a dry pitch and seems to be batting friendly from the scoring point of view.

Moreover, due to the extended summer season in Britain, it is expected to be a close contest between the two top-notch teams.

Ishant Sharma produced an early threat to England as he irritated their openers on regular intervals.

Keaton Jennings edged a ball towards slip cordon where Ajinkya Rahane missed to do the rest of the formalities. It was an easy catch. However, it is the timing of Rahane which can be cursed.

Virat Kohli handed over the ball to his main spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin in just seventh over of the game. In the first instinct, it appeared that Kohli wants to see the offerings of the pitch for spinners.

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Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled Alastair Cook:

However, the trial continued as Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled Alastair Cook. In addition, the former skipper managed to score just 13.

After Cook perishes, the English skipper, Joe Root came to join his partner, Jennings. But the duo steadied the ship of English cricket team and added first fifty partnership of the series.

Until lunch, England touched the mark of 83 for one. Jennings is playing on 38 whereas, skipper Root is playing on 31.

Twitter reactions:

Also, Twitterati enjoys the ongoing battle between the top teams. Here are the top tweets till the intervention of lunch :

 

https://twitter.com/DennisCricket_/status/1024482531712720896?s=19

https://twitter.com/CoachKumble/status/1024590686761283584?s=19

https://twitter.com/ROHITism_/status/1024595893318705152?s=19

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