Time for the penultimate over of the day and Leach will be bowling this one. Starts off with 3 back to back dots as Gill digs in and defends. A single to end the over. Just 1 from it.

Rehan continues and starts with a full toss which Gill strokes to deep midwicket for a single. Jaiswal on strike now and he defends the second ball as well as the third. Jaiswal tries to come down the tracks and then changes his mind and digs the ball into the ground for no run. Aaaand he ends the over with a huge six!! Moves on to 73. 7 from the over.

Jack Leach with a change in ends. 1 from the first ball as Jaiswal takes a single. Gill on strike and Gill is content to only defend at the moment. A single off the fifth finally so that Jaiswal can finish with a flourish. Nothing off the last ball as the over ends with just 2.

5 overs left in the day and England have now introduced the 19-year-old Rehan Ahmed to snag a wicket. Jaiswal on strike. Starts with a dot as Jaiswal takes a measure of the bowler. Goes for a pull amd a single off the next ball. Gill defends and gets another single. A loud shout for an LBW now but England can't review anymore. Nice wristwork from Jaiswal as he smashes the fifth ball to extra cover for a four. 100 up for India.  

Hartley continues and Jaiswal welcomes him with a pulled four before taking a single to put Gill on strike. Back to back dots next as Gill defends. Finally gets a proper bat to it on the backfoot and maraudes 2 runs. 7 from the over.

Leach again and Gill resolutely defends the first delivery. Same for the second as the batter keeps his head down and concentrates on the defensive shot. After 5 balls, it's still 0 from this over as Gill struggles to get off strike. Maiden to end.

Hartley continues and Jaiswal is off strike with a single from the first delivery. Gill on strike and he's pretty patient at the moment, defending the ball. Just 15 more mins to stumps, Ravi Shastri says on comms. A single to end this over as Gill will take strike again in the next over.

Leach in to bowl the 15th and Gill is pretty cautious in the early going. He'll be trying to stay in the middle till the day is done. A maiden by the Eng spinner. 

Tom Hartley in to bowl and there's a loud shout for LBW on Gill. England review but the wickets are clearly missing. And that's all their reviews gone. 

Jack Leach in the attack and he gets the breakthrough. And it's the Indian captain Rohit Sharma who has to walk back. It was high up in the air after hitting the bottom of the bat and Stokes makes no mistakes.

England has not lost the Test match in their batting innings but they are on the verge of losing it now in this session. Jaiswal is taking the game away from England quickly. As we update Jaiswal gets to his 50. If he bats the remaining part of the day India will be in a more than comfortable position. The youngster is showing how to play attacking cricket on these sort of surfaces. It is not something which we can say often but Rohit Sharma has been more of a spectator in this partnership so far and bowlers at point in this would prefer to bowl to him than Jaiswal. 

Jaiswal got himself to a flier here. He has got India the start they wanted and he arguably has destroyed Hartley's confidence in this brief assault. Stokes has entered the game with three spinners the other option he has is young Rehan Ahmed and will be interesting to see how he will perform. England needs to first stop the flow of runs here as they are the bowlers are not able to put any sort of pressure and mind you it is not a huge total England has. 

Mark Wood has been taken out of the attack and Jack Leach has been brought in early in the piece. Leach has a huge role to play in this five-match series here. If England has to win a few games or be competitive in this tour Leach needs to be amongst the top wicket-taker in the series. Heatley has been brought in for his third over of the innings. A good amount of trust is shown by skipper Ben Stokes on the young spinner however, Jaiswal has liked the match-up and is going after the spinner here. 

This is the first time Mark Wood has taken the new ball for England in Test matches ever. Though he did not get his lengths right in that first over he did come back well in the second over. In the first two overs, it has been all Jaiswal who has faced deliveries. Rohit has not faced many balls thus far and Ben Stokes would Rohit to face left-arm-spinner Hartley more as it supports the match-up. Also Rohit usually tends to chance his arm against the bowlers espically early in the innings which might provide bowler with a chance.

There has been an expectation that Joe Root might open the bowling however, England went more conventionally with Mark Wood and pacer Hartley from the other end. Jaiswal who has come to open is attacking the bowlers. The first ball Hartley bowled he slog swept for six giving him a grand welcome to the Test match arena. Ben Stokes needs to be careful here both Rohit and Jaiswal are the kind of players who will take the game away in a session or so. 

Well, there it is Bumrah bowls a jaffer to pick the final wicket and England gets to 246. It is not a bad total neither it is a threatening total. Plenty will depend on how Rohit and Jaiswal will bat in the remaining overs of the day. The will be looking to attack the bowlers and Ben Stokes needs to get the balance of his fields right of how much he wants to attack and how much he wants to defend. 

This is an interesting tactic from Rohit Sharma. He is not bringing in the fielders at all and is letting have Stokes all the strikes and has put his premium bowlers Bumrah and Ashwin in action asking Stokes to hit boundaries against them. Something for captains to make note of going forward. However, Stokes is still managing to get boundaries every over and the runs are coming. How long will Rohit persist with it must be seen. Something like this happened during Ashes when Aussies dried him off runs and eventually lost his shape and played a nothing shot and got himself out. As we update Rohit picks Bumrah.

Ashwin picks Mark Wood as the batter tries to play slog sweep. India needs one more wicket to get. Jack Leach has walked into the middle. Ben Stokes will continue to keep playing his shots and try and get as many as possible. Rohit Sharma has thrown the ball to Bumrah and now this will be interesting to see how Stokes will handle this Rohit has one slip and the rest of the fielders are all on the boundary. Can Stokes clear the boundary like he did against Jadeja only time will tell. 

After the tea break, Ben Stokes gave a chance which keeper Bharat missed. The ball took the outside edge and looped in the air which Rohit dived to get but could not get. As we update Ben Stokes reaches his half-century. He has changed the gears now and it is that stage of the innings where Stokes changes gears and adds valuable runs to the total. Jadeja is not able to put pressure whatsoever on the batters. Once again Rohit has been hesitant to use Axar who has been better of two left-arm spinners on the day. 

We are back with the final session on day one here. We have to wait and see how much can England get from here on. With another 50-60 runs England will believe they have a chance in this game. 

Well,, there is no wicket hence we are going to have a Tea break. It has been India's session as they have picked up five wickets. England did score a lot of runs in the session too but it is the wickets column that is concerning. If they can manage and get another 40-50 runs post Tea then it would put India on the spot. Though it is not a high-scoring ground the closer England gets to the 300 mark it will add pressure on the Indian batting lineup as not a lot of teams have been able to post that sort of score in recent times in the first innings. 

Unless a wicket falls the next over might be the final over of the session. England have pulled back things slightly in the last 10 minutes or so with a few big overs. 

Jadeja though has been expensive than usual but he picked up three wickets now. It is his discipline and ability to land the ball accurately in one area that has reaped the rewards. He has bowled quicker through the air and delivered the slower one when needed. However, they still need to pick Stokes here as he is now taking the attack on and bowling left-arm spinner might right play into his hand at this point. Ashwin who is bowling from the other end has been not as threatening as he was before lunch and as Rohit expected him to be.

Tom Hartley is continuing to bat positively and has moved into his 20s now. The partnership between Stokes and him is growing which is not Rohit and his side would prefer. The Indian skipper did turn to Ravindra Jadeja and is taking the gamble against left-handers But Stokes is playing switch hits and putting the pressure back on the bowler. Interesting phase of play now with both batters attacking the bowler. It might not be a bad ploy to get Axar who has bowled better than Jadeja today into the attack. As we update Jadeja picks Hartley.

Hartley who is the new batter looks like he is going to take his chances here. Stokes, on the other hand, is continuing to deal with ones and twos and an odd boundary here and there. We might see Stokes try and bat from Bumrah's end more often than from here on and take his chances and keep Hartley against Ashwin. The first target of this partnership should be to get to 200. This is still not a bad wicket it has been Indian bowlers who have bowled brilliantly. 

Bumrah picks up Reham Ahmed. Excellent piece of bowling from the Indian seamer. It was a slower one and Rehan was completely deceived by it. This is what the Indian star pacer can do. He can surprise you with all the tricks he has up his sleeve. It was not a new ball or a ball that was reversing. It was a slower one similar to the T20 format for a batter who was looking to take that approach. What presence of mind from the Indian vice-captain. England is now in a lot of trouble it might be time now Stokes to start taking his chances. 

Jasprit Bumrah has been brought into the attack. Interesting move from Rohit. Is it to clean up the tailenders or is he assuming Stokes might start to take chances we have to wait and see. Bumrah did unleash a yorker on Ahmed which he played well. Ahmed's first-class record does suggest he can handle himself but these sorts of conditions would be alien to him. Stokes on the other hand at the moment is not looking to go all guns blazing at least he has shown no intention yet but we have to see how long this goes. 

We have reached the water break here and it has been India's session. For all the talk of Bazball, this seems like deja vu. Though England did show sparks the Indian spinners have shown again that they are just too good for any sort of batting approach. They are 142/6 at the moment. If they can get to 250 they will give themselves a fighting chance. If not we might see India taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Given the inexperience of England bowling it is hard to see how the spinners will contain Indian batters who are far more calculated in their attacking approach on this kind off surface. 

With the ball a bit on the older side if there would have been at least one set better England could have cashed in with a substantial partnership. However, this is were visiting teams tend to lose against India time and again by losing those early wickets. One more advantage India tends to hold is despite the ball being a bit old and the surface not having the same carry pace the Indian bowlers are a lot quicker which won't give that batters anything away. As we update Axar picks up Foakes. 

The close-in fielders are back now to Foakes and Stokes. Both left-arm spinners are now running through the overs. This is the second time today something like this happened. Initially, Crawley and Duckett were looking good but after building a partnership both fell quickly in a short period and the same thing has happened again now. One of the batters has to take the onus and bat through after getting a start. They can't throw their wickets playing shots which are not required at that stage of the game. And as we update Ashwin is been thrown against Stokes. 

Ravindra Jadeja picks Joe Root. The batter tried to sweep the ball and got the top edge to fine-leg. This has been an extremely sharp captaincy from Rohit. He has removed the close-in fielders and has placed it more like a field in a white-ball game and it is giving results. Credit must be given to the skipper. His fields have dried up the singles forcing the batters to play a few more shots. Jadeja and Axar on the other hand are being accurate as ever. What a brilliant start to the session India has had in the first 30 minutes. 

Well, there is some Axar magic right there. The ball pitched and turned enough. Bairstow who was playing the ball with his hands throughout the innings once tried to play the conventional way of getting the stride down and got beaten in the air. That wicket not only has broken the crucial partnership but not it will create doubhts among the batters which will turn and which won't. This is what England did not want to happen early in the series. Axar finding his rhythm. He gets extremely difficult to face, especially on this sort of surface. 

Jonny Bairstow has got his innings going here. One good thing about the innings is that it seems like he has changed his method on how to deal with the turning delivery. He is playing the ball more with hands and not getting the pads in the way negating that option of getting LBW. A few years back when Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews came to India for the Test series played similarly and reaped rewards. However, to do that the foot moment and length judgement should be perfect and hand-eye coordination of the batter must be at its peak. 

We are back again for the second session. It will be interesting to see how both teams will go from here on. We might see Axar Patel taking the ball from one end alongside Ashwin from the other end. 

On Tuesday, Shubman Gill was named India’s men cricketer of 2023. On Wednesday, a day before India’s first Test against England, he turned up for a full-on nets session at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. It’s a rare sight because most first-eleven regulars skip the match-eve practice session. Mostly, only the back-ups turn up, more in the hope of an opportunity opening up at the last minute.

But few batsmen in India’s line-up, weakened by the absence of Virat Kohli, would be as under pressure as Gill could be. So he slogged for a good couple of hours in the nets under the unusually searing January sun. After starting off against seamers, he quickly shifted to facing the spinners (all net bowlers). Having struggled in the past against off-spinners, he would seek one out and instruct him to bowl a bit slower through the air as he alternated between attack and defence. There were times when he was beaten on the outside edge. Gill would often respond with an aggressive shot. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

James Anderson would begin his sixth Test trip to India as a passenger, ripping his nails on the dressing room balcony on hot Hyderabad days, or putting on an expressionless expression towards the cameras that would invariably pan on him. The 41-year-old would be missed, for the art he possesses and the fear he provokes.

His omission when Ben Stokes named the eleven would have induced gasps and smirks — conventional wisdom suggests your most experienced cricketer should start in the first Test of the most harrowing trip of the season. But the England of Stokes and Brendon McCullum does not travel the travelled paths. The soul of cricket’s latest entry to the dictionary — Bazball — is non-linear thinking, of non-conformity. (Read more from Sandip G)

We reached here lunch on the first day. Given the way the pitch is playing though India has picked three wickets, it must be said it has been England's morning. Indian bowlers looked good in patches but there was no sustained pressure from the bowlers. The England batters every now and then could get a boundary ball. Post the lunch that is what India would focus on which is to be disciplined with their lenghs. There is plenty on the surface to work with. If the bowlers ball it in the right area the batters will make mistakes. Axar has looked threatening of the bowlers despite no wickets and he might be a handful after the break. 

Axar Patel is getting into a nice rhythm here. He is firing the ball in and asking the batters to make that decision of either coming onto the front-foot or back foot quicker. He is asking a lot of questions and putting a lot of pressure on the batters at the moment. 

Axar Patel has been brought into the attack. He is bowling the stump line and not letting the batters off the hook. Root on the other hand has brought out his sweep. A couple of sweeps tend to create doubts in the minds of the bowlers and they tend to to change their lines and lengths that is what has happened. After that initial controversial LBW call,, Root is now looking in good touch. He is getting a nice stride forward and defending the ball well. This team doesn't seem to carry the demons of the last tour when England batters played for turning ball and got undone by non-turning deliveries throughout the series. 

It has been an absorbing start so far. For the three wickets India has picked England has reached 80 runs in this first session already. We are also having a ball change here early in the piece. Indian spinners would be hoping the change of ball would bring in more luck. We are still seeing Ashwin and Jadeja operate from either end. If this pairing of Bairstow and Root sees through to lunch break then the session would go in favor of England because of the runs they have scored in this first session. 

Bairstow is looking to take on the bowlers here. He has been nimble with his foot moment in his short innings thus far. He went onto the back foot when the ball was short and drove the ball through the covers when the ball was full enough. His intentions seem to be clear on how he is going to go about it. The onus is now on Joe Root on how he will go about this inning. At the moment there seems to be a change in momentum and Indian spinners are dominating. Axar had better off Bairstow in the last tour maybe it would not be a bad ploy to bring him back.

R Ashwin gets another one. It is Zack Crawley this time. There was a check if Siraj had taken the catch cleanly and the third umpire confirmed he had. Bairstow has walked into the middle. England won the toss and opted to bat first. All the advantage they have gained in that first hour they are losing now. Crawley was a set batter and that makes things even worse for the visitors. Bairstow has walked into the middle. England needs to build a partnership here. If they continue to attack they might lose one more wicket before lunch.

Ravindra Jadeja picks Ollie Pope. It was coming as the batter was looking scratchy and eventually played at one which could have dealt with a different way and Rohit at slip took a catch. India got their second wicket and just like that all the hard work done by the openers is now slowly starting to drain away. How often do we see this in the Indian conditions spinners turning the game on its head. Joe Root has walked into the middle and a lot depends on his batting how the series will unfold for England. 

There's the first one with moments away from a drinks break and who else can it be? It is Ashwin once again who does the trick. It was the arm ball from the veteran spinner which Duckett could not pick whatsoever. The previous balls kept turning and that was the one delivery in which Ashwin did not give the same revolutions as the previous ones. The batter did review the decision however, it showed the umpire's calls on hitting the stumps. Much needed a wicket for India as the partnership was looking ominous. Ollie Pope has walked into the middle. Two right-handers in the middle and the match-up now suits Jadeja. 

Spin has been introduced here for the first time by Rohit Sharma. He has employed both Jadeja and Ashwin from the right ends against the right-hander Crawley and Duckett respectively. There is a patch to work with for the spinners from both ends and the ball is turning and gripping at the moment. Usually, black soil wickets tend to assist spinners a lot more when the seam is prominent with the new ball as the ball gets older because of the lack of bounce in the soil unlike the red one the edges tend to not carry and batters do have that extra moment to get adjusted. 

We have gone past the first 30 minutes of play and England would be happier for both sides. We are yet to see a bowling change from India. Both England batters have played well here thus far. They have played each ball on its merit and anything loose they have latched on to it and anything which was a good ball they have respected it. To their advantage, Siraj did not find his rhythm so far in the Test. We might see spin introduced in a few overs here. 

Ben Duckett is playing with cross-batted shots at the moment rather than looking to play with the straighter one hence he is playing and missing time and again. He seems to be a stronger player square of the wicket than down the ground. He also tends to play sweeps and reverse sweeps against spin with dry patches near the off-stumps it will be interesting to see how that will work for him. So far it has been good for the English as they have got to a decent start here. Siraj is not able to bowl as well as Bumrah at the moment. 

The England batters have played a few sumptuous drives now early in the piece. Both Bumrah and Siraj too are looking to pitch the ball up and trying to knick off the batters. In the Ashes, Pat Cummins looked to suppress the attacking approach by putting out defensive fields. However, Rohit Sharma here seems to look to play fire with fire by putting attacking fields. There is a rough patch at one of the ends and expect Ashwin to be brought into the attack soon from that end. Out of both the batters, Duckett is the one who looked a bit vulnerable. 

Jasprit Bumrah has taken the new ball and he did get some moment in that first over as you would expect in Test match cricket. Siraj has taken the new ball from the other end and he too will be looking to pitch the ball and extract some moment of the surface. The ball is a darker color than usual. England might have not been attacking too much in that first over don't expect them to play like that too long that way either. Sooner or later they will start to unleash their fancy drives and high-risk T20 shots. 

It is going to turn but the question is when. England will come all guns blazing at the Indian bowling and this attack will get help from this surface. Intriguing battle awaits stay with us for all the live action. 

(Adjustment from opening to batting at three) Generally when you are opening, you are more used to going straightaway. It's all about how calm you can be and how much assessment you can do while you are out there and I got that quite a few times to do. In the first Test match, both Yashasvi and Rohit bhai both scored a century, I sat there for about 50-60 overs. If I sit out for 50-60 overs today, I would be happy. I like batting at three, I hope I'd be there for a long time. We are used to playing in these wickets and these conditions. It's about trusting your defence and then to be able to pounce on the opportunity that you get to score runs. Last year was a breakthrough year for me in white-ball. This year, I believe, is going to be a breakthrough year for me in red-ball.

It's a pitch of three parts. It has very dry edges close to the bat. It's a lot more dry on this side. Here, it's going to turn. In the middle of the surface, second part, there's an even covering of grass but it's dry underneath. Dry patches in the middle of the wicket. To the other side of the wicket, there's less dry patch closer to the bat. There's going to be a lot of spin. You win the toss and bat first. The spinners will come into play very soon.

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach

Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

We would have batted as well. Looks dry. Whether we bowl or bat first, we have the skills and we got the guys to do the job. A good series, I am playing for the first time a five-match series. We have played in these conditions before. We know what to do, it's all about executing your skills. We've got three spinners and two seamers. It was a tough one (to leave Kuldeep Yadav) Axar has done well and bats really well in these conditions. Probably the reason we went with Axar.

We are gonna have a bat. It's typical conditions in India. The preparation has been really good. We know the challenge, India is a successful side. We have Hartley making his debut, Rehan has played only one side, but they have a good leader in Leach. Woody is that X-factor bowler.

Stokes sees it this way: Mark Wood’s pace could make the difference. The 90-mph thunderbolts could blast stumps, batter morale, and provoke fear. Stokes would patiently explain: “When you go with one seamer, you look at the impact you want out of that seamer. What Woody brings with his high pace, he is a real impact bowler if we can get the ball swinging, him bowling in the 90s mph with a reverse-swinging ball will be very difficult to play against.”

James Anderson would begin his sixth Test trip to India as a passenger, ripping his nails on the dressing room balcony on hot Hyderabad days, or putting on an expressionless expression towards the cameras that would invariably pan on him. The 41-year-old would be missed, for the art he possesses and the fear he provokes.

His omission when Ben Stokes named the eleven would have induced gasps and smirks — conventional wisdom suggests your most experienced cricketer should start in the first Test of the most harrowing trip of the season. But the England of Stokes and Brendon McCullum does not travel the travelled paths. The soul of cricket’s latest entry to the dictionary — Bazball — is non-linear thinking, of non-conformity.

Look, the messaging is clear top down. You go to their set up and everyone is trying to play an aggressive, positive brand of cricket and they are trying to plant that method deep into their system… be it County cricket or England Lions. The messaging is clear, it (aggressive) is the sort of players they are looking for and that is the kind of formula that teams should use to get the best result possible: Dinesh karthik