Rishabh Pant's fastest Test century and Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 83 rescue India from faulty start at Edgbaston

Rishabh Pant’s record-breaking and counter-attacking 146-run knock accompanied with Ravindra Jadeja’s resilient unbeaten 83 has helped India dominate on Day 1 at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the rescheduled fifth Test. Pant, Jadeja broke records with the 222-run partnership for the sixth wicket to help India recover from 98/5 on a rain-affected day. 

Two early wickets

The rescheduled Test did not get off to an ideal start as Shubman Gill ot out early. Gill got out to James Anderson after scoring 17 runs. Promoted as an opener in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara stayed in the middle for more than an hour but eventually got out to Anderson. 

Potts’ double blow

Rain played spoilsport in the first session as Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli rushed back to the dressing room. After an early lunch, the play resumed and Matty Potts struck twice to get rid of Vihari and Kohli. Vihari got out lbw after scoring 20 runs. Kohli got out trying to leave the ball. The inswinging delivery hit his bat and crashed into the stumps. Kohli scored just 11 runs from 19 deliveries.

Shreyas’ short-ball problem continues

Instead of Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer walked out to bat. Iyer tried to launch a counter-attack and hit three boundaries. However, his stay at the crease was short-lived. He got out to a non-threatening short ball from Anderson as Sam Billings took a fantastic catch diving to his left.

Pant’s counter-attack special ft. Jadeja

With half of the side gone for 98, India needed a partnership to get back on track. Pant and Jadeja frustrated England bowlers. While Jadeja played the defensive role and anchored the innings, Pant launched a counter-attack. The 24-year-old got to his half-century with a boundary off Jack Leach. Pant absolutely dominated Leach and got to his century from 89 deliveries. He broke MS Dhoni's record of fastest century in Test cricket by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter. Also, he became the first touring wicketkeeper-batter to score a century in England.

Root – the partnership breaker

Jadeja got to his half-century from 109 deliveries. Against the old ball, he smashed Leach for 21 runs in a single over. However, it was Root who broke the partnership. He got out after scoring 146 runs, the second-highest score by a wicketkeeper-batter at Edgbaston. His innings included 20 fours and four sixes.

He shared a 222-run partnership for the sixth-wicket with Jadeja, the highest by an Indian pair at Edgbaston. He missed out on breaking Adam Gilchrist’s record (152) of highest individual score at the venue.

Jadeja nears century

Shardul Thakur was surprised by the extra bounce and edged one to Billings off Stokes. After Thakur's wicket, Jadeja tried to keep most of the strike. The southpaw scored 83 runs from 163 deliveries including 10 boundaries. On the other end, Shami faced 11 deliveries and did not score a single run. At Day 1, Stumps, India's score read 338/7. On Day 2, Jadeja would like to score runs quickly before the new ball is taken. However, the weather forecast does not look promising and rain is expected for a better part of the day.