India v England, fifth Test Day 1 LIVE – Pope falls just before lunch, as England reach 100

Joe Root gets off the mark from his first ball faced, immediately after lunch. India appeal big for caught off Crawley’s glove from the next one but it’s a shake of the head from Joel Wilson and India decide not to review.

The great England batter suggests Ollie Pope has been a bit “frenetic” at number 3, not striking fear into the opponents as someone like Joe Root would. Does he feel “he belongs” at this level? asks Sir Ally. Steve Finn thinks it’s a case of surviving the jitters, after which he has shown he can go onto get a big score. The problem is it doesn’t happen often enough.

The wicket of Ollie Pope, right before lunch and just as he was getting settled, will surely smart but considering how much luck the tourists had early on, they can’t have too many complaints over the scoreline. Crawley and Duckett survived as the new ball swung all over the place in the opening spells from Bumrah principally but also Siraj. By the end of that session Crawley was into his groove, exemplified by that maximum in the penultimate over before the break. Can he maintain that rhythm and on to a really big score this afternoon?

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A round of applause as Crawley steers a single through the covers and the 100 comes up for England. If these two could have survived that over England could have considered themselves very satisfied with their morning, but Ollie Pope again found himself all adrift. Still, considering the damage that might have been done by India’s opening seamers, the visitors are probably still about par.

Just as he seemed to be settling, Ollie Pope gets one very wrong. On the stroke of lunch he danced down the pitch and missed Kuldeep’s googly completely. An easy stumping for Jurel and Pope had no chance.

Ashwin bowling over the wicket to Zak Crawley, which should open up the possibilty of the lbw a bit more, but Pope and Crawley especially are playing some graceful shots and are content to take singles from them if that’s all that’s on offer. But that doesn’t mean they won’t take a big bite when they can. Really free foot and batwork from England.

Zak Crawley strides down the track and sends it all the way into the crowd where it’s nicely caught! There’s your bazball. It’s about a free mind, not free shooting.

Can Crawley press on and turn this into a really big score? He’s made as strong and steady a start as you can ask for. A better over from Ollie Pope was well, who moves to double figures.

Crawley’s fourth half century of the series comes from a strong straight drive all the way to the boundary.

A profitable over for England even as they make a few mistakes, with a mis-hit that goes to the boundary from Crawley and some confused running which sees Pope let-off by a dodgy Jaiswal pick up.

A very volumous appeal for lbw from Kuldeep but umpire Wilson shakes his head, in the manner of a man who looked pretty confident that if the ball hits Crawley that far up his pads it’s going over the stumps. So the review proved. Did you know Zak Crawley is a very tall man. Kuldeep sends up a lower one that Crawley sweeps but they don’t believe in that one quite as much. After a bit of an interlude and some nervous moments in that over Crawley sends one to the boundary, out pacing the dive of Jadeja for four.

Wondering where Bazball has gone? It’s still very much there, but England know they need to put themselves in a position first. Some good jabs from Crawley and Pope to Ashwin keep the score ticking upwards in that over.

An inevitable reset as the Surrey batter looks to find his feet up against the poison coming at him from Kuldeep. He looks a bit unsure of himself but flicks one to backward square for a single.

Another chance for India but Ollie Pope survives his first ball and gets off the mark. Gill it was who nearly grabbed it at short leg. A sweep from Crawley gets gloved and lands safely.

Kuldeep Yadav is brought into the India attack, and it’s not the easiest start for him, as Duckett and Crawley nab themselves a boundary a-piece. Duckett picks out the googly and punches it down the ground before getting it only too wrong with the next one. After all that work from the seamers, it’s spin that comes good for India.

India make the breakthrough and it comes thanks to a superb diving catch from Shubman Gill. Duckett heads back to the shed having tried to play a big one beyond cover, but it doesn’t go anywhere like as far as he’d hoped.

Ashwin positions a slip and a short leg but otherwise a fairly expansive field designed to keep the sweeps to a minimum. You can play them, Ashwin says, but you won’t get to the boundary. Just one more each from the batters in that over.

As the ball quietens England find themselves with a solid platform but Siraj is still able to find something from it every so often. A probing over from him keeps the tourists to two more.

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Fresh from a five-fer Ravichandran Ashwin receives a warm welcome from the crowd as he joins the attack in his 100th test. He lands his first ball right on the spot, but Duckett scoops his second to the boundary to take England past 50. That’s the fifth time he and Crawley have reached that total.

Into the second hour of play and the first over after drink sees Mohammed Siraj continuing his spell with a maiden. Some oohs and aahs from the stands as the ball goes past Crawley’s outside edge a few times and a wild swing catches him on the shoulder. The cherry is moving in the air but England’s openers are reading it well, by and large. The ground is starting to fill up.

A wee grimace from Ben Duckett who seems to feel he’s ridden his luck there, even as he’s added another boundary to his tally, with an edge through third slip and gully. Bumrah invites a few more swings and misses from Duckett. How many is that now?

Another excellent front foot drive from Crawley from the fourth ball of the over finds the boundary with the middle of the bat. The next ball brings up the first big appeal of the day which India think was very close to lbw. The umpire wasn’t convinced it was crashing into the stumps and upon Sharma’s review, ball tracking shows it was far enough out to stay with ump’s call. Crawley stays in place.

How many more balls can the seamers continue for? They must be tiring. Also the ball is now almost an hour old and is not moving quite as much as it was in the early overs, even as Siraj is able to find something special every now and again.

Should India be worried? They’ve got three spinners coming on shortly, and conditions are only going to better favour the batters as it warms up. They’ve run their luck a bit in this hour but that’s what it takes sometimes. Duckett might be itching to bring out the aggression, but his patience has been impressive and it should yet be rewarded.

The bowling partnership continues with Siraj taking his fifth over of the day, looking to force the error and make the breakthrough. Not that they should have any complaints – it’s been a slow, simmery start from Duckett especially, who has only picked up a single in that over and finding himself on an uncharacteristic 11 from 30 balls faced. Crawley is looking more at ease and fetches his fourth boundary with a very solid drive past mid-on.

Highest scoring over of the day so far starts with a delightful cover drive from Crawley finds the boundary, as Bumrah is looking a little more frustrated than they were early on. England have very much survived the first spell and are starting to play shots even if Crawley especially is committing a little early to his shots. Mis-timing a couple but the scoreboard is moving upwards.

This track is really starting to talk to the bowlers, but Duckett and Crawley are able to chat back at least a bit with the former picking up a couple of runs with a nod towards the leg side boundary. Good running stops it going further.

Rohit Sharma allowing Bumrah three slips and a gulley, as the bowler looks to invite Crawley to bring anything other than a straight bat to the ball. After several wide balls though, Bumrah sends one straight towards the stumps and although it goes right through it somehow bounces over the stumps. The rub of the green falling more England’s way, as Crawley edges just past the diving gulley fielder for four. Heart in mouth stuff.

Duckett’s patience is rewarded, as he shows what he can do with the second ball of the over, a sweet drive through the covers for the first boundary of the session. These ball continues to swing but England’s openers are beginning to get the measure of it, looking a bit more comfortable than they did in the first few overs.

It’s a cool morning up here in the Himalayas, with sub-10 degree temperatures meaning jumpers are needed for anyone not doing a lot of running. What a backdrop as well.

A play and a miss from Duckett and Bumrah is delighted. So’s his captain. That one couldn’t have been much closer to the edge of Duckett’s bat. Finally Duckett finds the middle of the bat with the fourth ball of the over, a three-run drive to mid-on.

Siraj’s record against lefthanders isn’t too bad, and he almost gets Duckett straight away when Duckett pushes hard but it doesn’t quite carry to the well-positioned fielder at midwicket. Eight balls without a run, he’s going to play at something soon, but Siraj is mixing it up, and not giving him the freedom he needs. Your man is finally off the mark with a single to square leg, but India’s bowlers have done a fine job of pegging England’s openers back so far.

Ben Duckett faces his first Bumrah ball and it’s a play and a miss from the lefthander. Duckett has fallen victim to India’s Mr 100 a few times in this series, including in Hyderabad, and he’s already getting up to him. Bumrah comes even closer with his third ball of the over, an absolute beauty that just evades contact with the bat. I’m frightened, don’t know about Duckett. England sneak a single with the final ball, off the pad.

Mohammed Siraj handed the ball for the second over of the day with Crawley still on strike and Duckett yet to face. Crawley reaches out to the outswinger and misses, to the delight of Bumrah behind the stumps. That was close, but a great response from Crawley with the next ball, played in the exact same way and driven through the covers for the first boundary of the day. A few testing early balls from Siraj.

Bumrah delivers the first ball of the final test to Crawley who leaves it as it pitches just outside off stump. The next three are much the same, showing there’s not much in this surface as the pace comes out of it straight away – it barely carries to the wicketkeeper. Crawley gets off the mark with the final ball of the over, clipping the inswinger beyond square leg for a good three runs. The Barmy Army let loose with a rendition of Jerusalem.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes †, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel †, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

Just the two changes for India, Jasprit Bumrah in for Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikall in for Rajat Patida. Mark Wood come in for England in place of Ollie Robinson.

The gloveman (though not today) and batter becomes only the 16th Englishman to reach that number of caps. His family are there, his mum Janet and sister Becky, and it’s an emotional moment. He’s come a long way from Scarborough.

A good toss to win, you’d wager. The pitch looks good, but how’s this for a sporting theatre.

If you’ve just got in, I won’t ask from where. If you’re struggling to sleep, I’ll be pleased to keep you company through the wee hours and for your sake hopefully this first session isn’t so exciting you can’t catch at least a few zzzzzs. If you’ve woken up because, for some unwelcome reason, you have to, I share your pain.

Not that I don’t feel very privileged to be here in front of what promises to be a thrilling final test, as England seek to bookend the series the way they began it all those weeks ago back in January.

Back then the whole winter and great possibility lay in front of us, and while it hasn’t gone the way the barmy army would have wanted, we haven’t exactly been bored, have we?

Mumbai cricket has certainly had the better of Bazball, of which questions have been asked by Chennai spinners, as well as pitches from Rajkot to Ranchi.

It looks like the slow bowlers are going to enjoy a little less time around the wicket in this final test in the stunning location of Dharamsala, but it’s still a little less green a pitch than the captains were expecting.

“3-2 sounds better than 3-1 or 4-1” said Ben Stokes yesterday. In three, four or maybe even five days time, we’ll find out which it’s going to be.

It all starts at 4am UK time, 9.30am.

England have made one change for the fifth Test match against India in Dharamsala, as Mark Wood replaces Ollie Robinson.

Robinson has been struggling with a back problem and did not bowl in India’s second innings, as Wood comes in for the final match that takes place in the Himalayan foothills.

It will be a special occasion for Jonny Bairstow, who becomes only the 17th men’s player to feature in 100 Tests for England.

Spinners Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir both remain in the side despite the cool conditions seemingly favouring the fast bowlers.

England captain Ben Stokes said: “Before we even got here, we thought it was probably going to be a three seam and one spin but turning up yesterday and seeing the wicket and again today, going with two seamers and two spinners is probably the right call.

“We thought there would be a bit more grass on the wicket just because of where we are but overall I think the wicket looks an absolute belter.

“If I was the captain of the one-day team here, I wouldn’t want to win the toss because I wouldn’t know what to do, just because of how good the wicket looks [for batting].

“Playing with two seamers and still having two spinners gives us a good mixture. When you’re a little bit unsure about what it could do as the Test match goes on, I’m confident with the team we’ve gone for.”

Bashir was absent from training on Wednesday due to a stomach issue, but this will not prevent him from taking part in the fifth Test.

The full England team is as follows: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir.