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Good news, potentially for both teams: it’s overcast in Manchester, so there should be a bit there for both attacks. The pitch played slightly strangely yesterday, docile but occasionally lively. I actually think they got the track almost perfect in the first Test at the new OT, the 2013 Ashes contest: there was something in it for quicks hitting 85ish and above and also for quality spinners, but otherwise it was flat and the best batters made runs.
So far there’s no news on Pant. But he’s not at the ground and the signs do not look positive. Godspeed, old mate.
A day of Test cricket is – even when split up into six portions of crucial next hours – a long time. It offers us scope for undulation, fluctuation and domination, a story within a story that nourishes our brain through the long evenings before we go again.
Somehow, almost every time these sides get to it and however things meander and explode, we end up near to where we started: with a close contest that could conceivably go either way.
Yesterday, India had the better of the first session, sensible and doughty batting aided by a supernatural force-field protecting their outside-edges from the ball, however hard they tried to unite the two. Then, in the afternoon, England – led by the exhibition masochism of Ben Stokes – fought back, before the even evening dig left the match beautifully balanced as we bounce into day two.
It feels like much of what’ll happen next is rooted in Rishabh Pant. If he can’t bat, England will feel like they’re almost into the tail, but the problem for India would be a symbolic one too; he is the human embodiment of bravery and hope, so his incapacitation would extract a toll not just practical but mental. They need his batting, but they also need his presence.
England’s attack, meanwhile, should be a day wiser. Bowling at Old Trafford is unlike bowling anywhere else, and Brydon Carse struggled while Jofra Archer, though miserly, is there to be deadly. If, as a unit, the perform similarly today, they will be facing a substantial first-innings total; if they improve, they could be ahead of the game by stumps. Bring on the six portions of crucial next hours!
Play: 11am BST
