England put up a fighting total, ending their innings at 304. While the openers started strong, racing to 81 runs in just 11 overs, things got trickier after that. The pitch was a bit slow, and some balls unexpectedly stayed low, making scoring a real challenge. Ben Duckett and Joe Root, played brilliantly, with both scoring more than fifty runs, setting a good base. But it was the late fireworks from Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid, that gave England the needed boost. Livingstone smacked a couple of fours and sixes, while Rashid hit three boundaries in a row, pushing England over the 300 mark. These big hits in the final four overs added a crucial 43 runs to the total.
India's bowlers, particularly the spinners, really put the brakes on England's scoring spree. Ravindra Jadeja was the star of the show, taking three important wickets and conceding only 35 runs in his 10 overs. The rest of the bowling attack, featuring debutant Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana, and Hardik Pandya, each chipped in with a wicket.
- England's batting innings was a story of two halves – a rapid start, then a slower middle phase, and finally, a flurry of runs at the end. For India, the spinners, led by Jadeja, showing excellent control and preventing a potentially much larger total. The fielding was also brilliant, a highlight of the day was Shubman Gill, took 2 catches, the first one running backwards and the second one was a well-judged forward diving catch.
Brief Scores: England 304 in 49.5 overs (Joe Root 69, Ben Duckett 65, Liam Livingstone 41; Ravindra Jadeja 3/35).
India are batting at 48 for no loss at 6.1 overs when play was stopped due to flood light problems.
A tense finish awaits
