India began their gruelling England tour on a high note during the first day of the Headingley Test. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill both scored centuries while Rishabh Pant also played a gritty knock of 65 as the Men in Blue wrapped up the day on 359/3.
The England bowlers struggled throughout the day as the Indian batters dominated in all the three sessions. Though KL Rahul also played a decent inning of 42 and provided the visitors with a strong start alongside Jaiswal through their opening partnership of 91 runs, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan was left 'disappointed' with the wicketkeeper-batter for getting dismissed due to his habit of playing 'flashy' shots.
"The Indian openers added more than 50 runs in Headingley for the first time in 39 years. So, India wouldn't have expected a better start than that. However, the two wickets that fell (in the first session), I will be slightly more disappointed with KL Rahul because playing flashy shots is not his strength," Pathan said during a discussion on Sony Sports, as quoted by Sportskeeda.
"He played flashy shots twice or thrice, the ball went in the air, and he could have gotten out there. When the wicket fell, you had gotten set by then. You had already stitched together a 91-run partnership, you had made the ball old, and downed their spirits," he added.
Rahul hit a total of eight fours in his knock of 42, however just on the brink of the end of the first session, got dismissed after poking a delivery that was pitched well outside his off-stump. It was pacer Brydon Carse who got the wicket that England needed badly.
Jaiswal heaped praise on Rahul
Meanwhile, after playing a stunning knock of 101, Jaiswal credited Rahul for guiding him well during their opening stand and added that it is 'fun' to bat alongside the 33-year-old.
"KL Rahul is very experienced. I can understand a lot by talking to him - where the runs can be made and how we can carry on the innings. It was a lot of fun to play with him," Jaiswal said after the end of Day 1.
The second day of the Headingley Test saw Pant also reach his hundred. With this, he became the third Indian batter to cross the three-digit mark in the innings. However, it was England who came out on top in the first session as Shoaib Bashir first dismissed Gill for 147 before Ben Stokes sent Karun Nair back to the dugout for a four-ball duck. They didn't stop there as Josh Tongue dismissed Pant for 134 and finally, Stokes got his second wicket of the day in the form of Shardul Thakur as the first session concluded with the visitors on 454/7.