Duckett, Crawley flatten India after Atkinson's five-for

It was a session of mayhem. India lost their last four wickets in just 29 minutes, bowled out for 224 on the back of Gus Atkinson's five-wicket haul. England's Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley then tore into India with a whirlwind opening stand. The pair brought up England's fifty in just seven overs, the joint fastest team fifty in a first innings against India. By lunch, the hosts were 109 for 1, having raced to the third-fastest team hundred against India and scored at nearly seven an over.

Despite the help on offer, India's bowlers looked rattled and short of ideas. Crawley used his reach, Duckett used his feet and unorthodoxy as the two became the most prolific England opening pair against India, going past the 932 runs scored by Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss.

Crawley got into the groove right from the first over, while a key moment for Duckett came in the fourth over, when he edged Akash Deep off the shoulder of the bat and saw the chance go begging. Next ball, Duckett switched his stance and reverse-scooped Akash Deep over the slips. Only Sam Konstas (against Bumrah, MCG, 2024) has played that shot earlier in a Test innings.

It was also the shot that eventually got him, again off Akash Deep, but not before England had 92 on the board. The closest India came to taking a wicket was when they wasted a review on Duckett, with the technology suggesting that the ball was going over the stumps.

Prasidh Krishna came on in the eighth over but soon reverted to his default back-of-a-length style, offering little control on this surface and was taken for runs. The tempo dipped briefly after Duckett's dismissal, but Crawley kept going and reached a 42-ball fifty; it was his 19th in Tests and third of the series.

Earlier in the session, Josh Tongue struck early by trapping Karun Nair in front, removing the overnight batter before Gus Atkinson wrapped up the innings with three quick wickets to complete his five-wicket haul. Washington Sundar fell to a short-ball trap, while Siraj was bowled and Prasidh Krishna edged behind to deliveries they had no answers to. India could add only 20 runs to their overnight tally, with a fair share of those coming from extras and edges.