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On July 10, it was the second instance of Ben Stokes opting to bat first in home Tests since he took over captaincy in the format. Against a bowling attack bolstered by Jasprit Bumrah's return, England batters abandoned the Bazball approach and played conventional Test cricket. On Day 1, they scored at little over three runs per over. After openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were left stunned by Nitish Kumar Reddy, Joe Root and Ollie Pope dig in their heels and survived the new ball. The Indian bowlers and fielders often teased the England batters, asking for the Bazball approach, the "entertaining cricket". After the day's play, Pope said that it was not a pitch where the batters could come out swinging.
"This wasn't a surface where you could come out swinging. The Indian attack held their lengths and made it hard to score," Pope said at the post-play press conference.
Pope happy with England's score on Day 1
The most expensive bowler in the Indian lineup was Edgbaston hero Akash Deep who conceded 75 runs from 12 overs at an economy rate of 4.40 runs per over. Nitish Reddy was economical as well at 3.30 runs per over. Bumrah was the toughest to get past in terms of runs scored at 1.90 runs per over.
"...not necessarily the way we're used to kind of going about, putting together a first innings, but I think 250 for four is a pretty, pretty good score...obviously would have liked some more runs...," said Pope who scored 44 runs from 104 runs.
"...but I think the the nature of the surface and I think the way the Indian attack bowled as well was pretty good throughout," he added.
Pope explains England's approach
Pope further justified England batters' traditional approach to Test cricket by respending the conditions. He tried to explain why England batters in some situations resort to aggressive style of play despite ball moving around.
"I think it's a day that we'll take, obviously we've had to adapt...I think for us, yeah, it's just about getting better as a team and reading situations.
"...sometimes it might be that you see some more aggressive shots on a pitch that's really moving around and nipping around.
"(That's) because that's your best way of putting some pressure back on the bowlers and trying to get them to sort of stop doing what they want to do," he further explained.
Pope missed his half-century as he edged one to substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling.
"...it's something that we're we're trying to get better and better as a team and obviously (it's) a Test against India. They're always going to test you in in those kind of situations. So yeah, it's just trying to adapt," he said, pointing out the need of the hour.
At the end of Day 1's play, England were 251/4 with Joe Root not out on 99 and Ben Stokes supporting him with a 39 off 102 balls.
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