Team India faced off Joe Root’s England in the opening match of the 5-match Test series which is part of the new WTC cycle. Meanwhile, rain gods avoided India from registering the victory as the match was washed out due to rain. India was in a very good position in the match however due to continuous rain match ended in a draw.
Both the sides had some poor performers however there were some exceptional performers from both the teams who made the battle more interesting. In this article, we have a look at the Top 3 Performer of England vs India 1st Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
#3. KL Rahul
KL Rahul gave a stunning performance for team India while opening the innings with Rohit Sharma. Notably, earlier it was revealed that India has drafted Rahul only as a middle-order batsman in the team. However, he got an opportunity to open just because two of the Indian openers suffered an injury. Shubman Gill who was the first choice opener to open with Rohit Sharma suffered a shin injury before the series and was ruled out. Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal faced an injury on his head during the practice session due to which he was ruled out of the first Test.
Indian management had no other choice, so then handed over the opening to KL Rahul and he did wonders for Virat Kohli-led side. Rahul had an amazing 97 runs opening partnership with Rohit Sharma. However, after Rohit Sharma got out India faced a major batting collapse as the big 3 of the Indian Test got out one after another. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 4, Indian Captain Kohli was dismissed on duck and Vice Captain Rahane got out on 5. Still, KL Rahul stood on one end and helped India get the lead. Rahul smashed brilliant 84 runs against England’s bowling unit. Meanwhile, in the second innings, he scored 26 runs.
#2. Jasprit Bumrah
The classic Boom Boom Bumrah was witnessed by fans at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Bumrah had a very poor outing at the inaugural WTC final ahead of the England series. The 27-year-old went wicketless in the match against New Zealand and received a lot of backlash from fans for his performance. However, things were very different in the match against England.
Jasprit Bumrah picked a wicket in the very first over of the Test match. Also, he didn’t stop there as he went on to pick a 4-wicket haul in the first innings of the match. Just like Joe Root he did even better in the second innings and converted his 4 wicket haul into 5 wicket haul. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah was the one who stopped Joe Root from scoring more runs after the century.
#1. Joe Root
England skipper Joe Root recently became England’s highest run-scorer in international cricket. Root surpassed legendary English batter Alastair Cook to achieve the enormous milestone. It’s a fact that currently, Joe Root is a lone warrior of England’s Test batting unit. He has already crossed the 1000 Test runs mark in the year 2021. When it comes to scoring runs no batsmen from the current England Test team are better than captain Root.
In the first innings, England’s batting failed against the strong pace battery of India as they scored only 183 runs. Meanwhile, among the 183 runs, 64 were contributed by Captain Root. No England batter touched the 30 runs marks in the first innings of the match. Meanwhile in the second innings Root shined once again as this time he converted his marvelous fifty into a century. Root looked stunning while batting he was in full control. Adding to it he smashed sensational 109 to help England get the lead of 209. Meanwhile, He was awarded Player of the match for his excellent century.
