(Cricket news) Day 1 of the final deciding Test match between India and England ended with India on 338/7. India are definitely on top after Day 1 especially considering the fact that Ben Stokes won the toss and put India into bat first. India once again went with the same bowling combination without Ravichandran Ashwin. Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill opened the batting while Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari played in the middle order.

There was movement of the pitch for the seamers but very little movement or no movement in the air. The wicket didn't have much bounce or carry in the first session at least. Shubman Gill started the innings really well as he played a couple of gorgeous strokes. The opener was looking really good before he played a nothing shot off James Anderson which picked up the edge on its way to Zak Crawley at 2nd slip. Gill could've easily left the ball on both line and length but he had a poke at it which was a shame because he was looking so good on 17. 
Pujara on the other hand played his natural game and looked very solid. He played a beautiful straight drive which showed that he had regained his bat swing and footwork since his last Test match. He was given out caught behind but the decision was overturned after DRS. His stay didn't last long after as he was dismissed with a beauty from Anderson. The delivery bounced much more than expected and took the edge flying into Crawley's hands as he was dismissed for 13.

India's new number 3 Hanuma Vihari really struggled in the beginning. Vihari was given a lifeline as Crawley dropped an easy catch at first slip off Matt Potts. He was playing and missing quite a bit before finally falling to Matt Potts' ball while on 20 off 53. The ball was an outswinger off the hand but due to the pitch's natural variation it nipped in off the surface to catch Vihari plum on the pads as he didn't even bother to review. Virat Kohli's nightmare form and incredible bad luck continued as he could only manage 11 runs. He tried to leave a wide delivery from Potts but the ball hit the bat and found its way to the stumps. Rishabh Pant came in to bat ahead of Shreyas Iyer presumably to keep the right hand, left hand combination. Iyer started well by playing his shots and scoring a few good boundaries but then struggled as soon as the English bowlers started to bowl short. He was on 15 off 10 balls when he nicked Anderson's ball down the leg side towards Sam Billings who took an excellent catch down.

India were in deep trouble at 98/5 and it looked like England would have the advantage after the first innings but Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant had other plans. The pair stitched together a crucial partnership of 222 runs to give India the advantage. Pant scored 146 off just 111 balls hitting 19 fours and four sixes. He scored runs all over the ground with a range of shots including his trademark one handed six which went 101 metres long. Jack Leech who picked up 10 wickets in the last Test against New Zealand was hit for 71 runs in 9 overs. Pant was finally dismissed by Joe Root's wide flighted delivery which was caught at first slip by Crawley.

Jadeja's innings was completely opposite as he was very patient and didn't take any risks. He played a wonderful hand in supporting Pant as he finished the day unbeaten on 83 off 163 balls. His innings was an incredible paced innings which consisted of 10 fours. The improvement in Jadeja's red ball batting has been immense in the last couple of years and has been one of the main reasons for India's success. Shardul Thakur didn't trouble the scorers as he could only manage to score 1 run before being dismissed by Ben Stokes. India will start day 2 with Jadeja and Mohammed Shami at the crease.

England's bowling started off great but then went a little haywire. Anderson was brilliant as usual as he picked up 3 crucial wickets. Potts started really well by picking up 2 wickets but was later very expensive. Broad was decent on the day but went wicketless. Jack Leech had a very tough day as he was hammered by Pant all over the place. He tried a lot of things but nothing was working. Joe Root stepped up after Leech's hammering and got rid of Pant. Ben Stokes had a very tough day with the ball despite picking up a wicket. The skipper bowled way too short and wide majority of the time including a few wild balls and a lot of no balls. England will have to bowl 7 overs before the new ball is available but they will like to get things wrapped up before that. A certain Ravindra Jadeja will be standing in the way of that.

Also read: Bold and brutal calls in India's T20I squad for the England series