India Vs England, 4th Test, Day 1 Highlights: Curran's Test best gives England a glimmer of hope

Southampton, Aug 30: Sam Curran once again put a fine display of his batting talent with a defiant knock of 78 runs and helped England post a decent first-innings total as Joe Root's decision to bat backfired against India on Day 1 of the fourth Test here on Thursday (August 30).

England opted to bat first on a green top wicket which many felt would favour the team batting first but their top order faltered once again against the swinging ball in Southampton.

In the first session itself, England were four down and it seemed their batting would fold up within 200-runs. But England's lengthy batting order once again helped avoid utter embarrassment with Moeen Ali (40) and Curran stating their claim for a higher place in the line-up.

Curran brought some respectability to England's total but he quickly ran out of partners as a poor shot followed poor shot, the hosts dismissed for 246 in the 77th over.

In response India closed on 19-0, leaving them 227 runs behind and eyeing a first-innings lead on Friday. Shikhar Dhawan (3*) and KL Rahul (11*) will resume India's innings on Friday morning.

From the start of the play on the opening day, Jasprit Bumrah (3-46) and Ishant Sharma (2-26) enjoyed plenty of success with the new ball. The right-arm pacers were able to find enough swing to torment the England batsmen with the new ball.

Keaton Jennings (0) had watched a number of deliveries from Bumrah swing away from him in the first over, however, at the start of his second spell the seamer got one to go the other way and trap the opener in front.

Bumrah added Bairstow's wicket to his tally after Ishant had removed Joe Root (4), the skipper also failing to read the late swing, as England lurched to 28-3 in the 13th over.

While many had struggled, Alastair Cook (17) appeared composed but once again he failed to get past 30 in the series, this time a loose shot giving Virat Kohli catching practice in the slips.

Post lunch, Jos Buttler (24) was out caught at slip by skipper Virat Kohli off Shami's bowling. Ben Stokes (23) continued to defend stoically, lasting 79 deliveries. Shami bowled brilliantly, continuing from where he left off in the morning session. The Bengal pacer was rewarded when he trapped Stokes lbw coming round the wicket. It was a sharp in-swinger that was hitting the leg-middle.

Curran and Ali then came together and held the fort until the tea break. They showed a lot of patience, in particular, Curran who stayed calm and went for his strokes whenever the opportunity presented itself. On the evidence, he was England's best batsman so far in this innings.

Moeen - who scored a double century for Worcestershire recently - showed why he deserved his recall, while Curran was also proving the selectors right in their decision to bring him back into the fold.

Curran went to 50 with a crisp six over long on and he continued his onslaught as he began to run out of partners, the 20-year-old the last man out as he eyed a maiden Test century.

Earlier, Indian speedsters rocked the England top-order with an inspiring spell as the home team were left reeling at 57 for 4 at lunch on the first day of the fourth Test.

(With inputs from agencies)