It was an excellent day of cricket at Bristol as India played their first Test since 2014. Heather Knight, who is captaining the England side for 100th time overall, called it right once again and opted to bat first straight away.
India handed the debut cap to Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar while Sophia Dunkley became the first black woman to play for England.
England began well with Lauren Winfield-Hill and Tammy Beaumont adding 69 runs for the first wicket.
Pooja Vastrakar gave the first breakthrough for the team but that wasn’t enough as Heather Knight dominated right from ball one. After adding another fifty-plus partnership, Beaumont got out for 66, thanks to a sharp catch from Shafali Verma at the silly point off Sneh Rana.
Nat Sciver then took on bowlers along with Knight to take the team to 230 for 3. When England were looking good, Indian spinners brought the team back into the game by picking up wickets. Sciver got out for 42 while Knight went for 95.
Soon, Rana dismissed Jones and Elwiss to make the final session interesting. England ended the day with 269 for 6. Dunkley and Brunt are at the crease.
Rana was India’s best bowler as she had three wickets while Sharma grabbed two and Vastrakar had a wicket to her name.
