Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Indian bowlers struck before the conclusion of the opening session of the first Test against England after Rory Burns and Dom Sibley provided a steady start at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
At Lunch, England's score read as 67/2 in 27 overs. Sibley is unbeaten at 26 runs while skipper Joe Root is not out on four runs. Both the openers played cautiously and stitched a 63-run stand for the first wicket. India were unlucky as Rishabh Pant dropped Burns in the initial overs of the game off Jasprit Bumrah.
But in the 24th over, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin brought hosts back in the game and scalped Burns. He played a knock of 33 runs.
Bumrah then sent Dan Lawrence back to the pavilion on a duck. Bumrah found Lawrence in front of the wickets. Root joined Sibley in the middle and the duo survived the final overs before Lunch.
Earlier, India started with five bowling options including three spinners. Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma are leading the pace attack while Ravichandran Ashwin, Washinton Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem are the spinners available for the hosts.
Interestingly, Bumrah is playing his first Test in India. The pacer has so far played 17 Tests for India but all on foreign soil. Finally, he gets to make his home debut against England in Chennai.
Before the start of the first Test, Axar Patel was ruled out of the series opener and the Indian board added Nadeem and Rahul Chahar to the squad.
Brief Scores: England 67/2 (Rory Burns 33, Dom Sibley 26*; Jasprit Bumrah 1-17, R Ashwin 1-31).
