Englan’s all-rounder Chris Woakes on Saturday said that his side struggled in creating chances in middle as Indian batters capitalised the situation and didn’t give any chances away.

At the end of first Day’s play, India’s scoreboard read 307 for six, which is quite respectable, comparing Indian side’s outing in last four innings against England’s pace attack.

Advertisement

Speaking to the media after the day’s play, Chris Woakes said, “It was an even day overall, I think. When you do win the toss, and go out there and have a bowl, there’s always that added pressure to skittle them early. But credit to India, I thought they played pretty well.”

In the morning session, Chris Woakes bagged three wickets and denied the visitors a decent start. Indian captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane, however, stablished visitors innings by putting a 159-run stand for the fourth wicket.

“The ball moved around pretty much all day there was probably a period through the middle when it didn’t do quite as much, when the sun was out, and they capitalized on that. I think we bowled reasonably well, and they combated it pretty well. Throughout that middle period, we struggled to create a chance,” Woakes added.

Virat Kohli was denied a Test century as English spinner Adil Rashid removed him at the scored 97 and his deputy got out after making 81 at Trent Bridge.

“We tried a few different things. But when you come off the back of a game when it’s all happened very quickly, sometimes you expect things to happen. But it’s five days for a reason, and sometimes you have to sit in and be patient,” Woakes said, adding, “If he (Rashid) could do that when he’s on nought, that’d be nice. But Virat’s a world-class player, so to get him out at any point in the game is important because obviously he can go on and score big ones, go on and get ‘doubles’.”

“So that’s a big wicket for us, and to then get another tonight was important. When I came on I felt like the ball actually started swinging after about 15 overs the lacquer came off and it started moving a little bit more in the air. The wickets leading to lunch were important,” Woakes further said.

The young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant made his Test debut on Saturday and made an electric start to his Test career with a second-ball six.

“He’s an extremely good white-ball player. He obviously comes out and plays his shots, as we saw to Adil today. (But) I suppose in English conditions, you like to think if you put the ball in the right areas enough we might be able to find his edge,” said Woakes.

The star English pacer also talked about troubled all-rounder Ben Stokes, who had an average outing with the ball going wicket-less in 15 overs.

“There was no real difference in Ben. He’s the same as he always is obviously desperate to do well, desperate to perform for England. He’s one of the hardest trainers in the team. ”

“Today probably didn’t go as well as he’d have liked. He’d have liked to pick up a couple of wickets, but that’s the game,” Woakes signed off.