England fought back manfully in the final session of day one of the first Test in Visakhapatnam, picking up three wickets as India closed on 336-6 on the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s stunning, unbeaten 179.

With 400 in sight, India will fancy they are in the ascendancy, but the pitch looks relatively placid at this stage, if not very slow and very low, and likely to get worse in that regard as the match progresses. Having lost the toss and bowled first, England will rightly be happy to have finished with six wickets for their efforts.

Our first innings bet on Jasprit Bumrah for top India bowler should be a big runner now, with the paceman so effective on these types of pitches when going full, and attacking the stumps with his skiddy action.

It’s worth remembering that of the six wickets Bumrah claimed in the first Test, three were bowled and one LBW. In-play punters might want to take note with the next method of dismissal market in mind.

More immediately, England will be keen to wrap up India’s innings quickly, and there are reasons to be think they can do just that. Though resuming with one eye on a double hundred, Jaiswal will need to start again, with Ravi Ashwin for company but very little to come afterwards. Due in next is Bumrah who averages 6.63 in Test cricket.

England are only one more wicket away from the tail, and perhaps most importantly, captain Ben Stokes can call for the new ball whenever he wishes. Expect him to arm a refreshed James Anderson with the new cherry as soon as play resumes, the 41-year-old having stood out one day one, returning exemplary figures of 17-3-30-1.

Anderson could have taken Jaiswal’s wicket on a number of occasions across the three sessions, but gets another crack in the morning, and he is England’s best hope of wrapping things up quickly.

I’m happy to chance that Anderson can do the damage with the new ball, so impressive was he on day one, but instead of playing unders on runs with the line currently around the 430 mark, I’ll roll the dice on INDIA UNDER 400 FIRST INNINGS RUNS at 11/4 with Sky Bet.

Preview published at 1305 GMT on 02/02/24

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