Nair’s fifty steadies India on green-top as England’s inexperience shows

• Nair's fifty steadies India on green-top as England's inexperience shows

India ended the 64-over opening day of the fifth and final Test at 204 for 6.

Three of the six wickets fell to unforced errors, including a run out of captain Shubman Gill, who had looked assured in hostile conditions and set a smart template for tap-and-run cricket. He misjudged one and lost his stumps to a direct hit from Gus Atkinson, the standout bowler of the day.

England's attack, still wet behind the ears, cost them wayward lines and lengths. Josh Tongue picked up two wickets but leaked runs at 3.6 an over, while Jamie Overton looked short of rhythm and was expensive in these conditions, going at 4.1. Chris Woakes, clutching his shoulder after a tumble in the outfield and walking off in pain, only added to their growing list of concerns.

This was India's 15th toss loss in men's internationals this year, and the fifth in a row in this series. Both openers fell in a rain-curtailed first session, which saw just 23 overs bowled.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was trapped by a sharp nip-backer from Atkinson, given out on review. Atkinson gave away just seven runs in a tight six-over burst to help set the tone. Woakes looked off-colour early on, but switched ends and eventually found rhythm. He cramped KL Rahul for room with a hard-length ball that jagged back in and forced a chop-on.

Only six overs were possible between Lunch and Tea, but they included Gill's run-out. Especially because he and Sai Sudharsan had added calm during a 45-run stand built on sharp singles and punishing anything too full or too short.

After Tea, Tongue produced two outstanding deliveries to left-handers Sudharsan and Ravindra Jadeja, who could do little but edge steeply bouncing deliveries on off stump. At 123 for 5, India had their lowest first-innings score at the fall of the fifth wicket in this series but given how tough the conditions were for batting, they still looked relatively in control.

Dhruv Jurel and Nair added 30 brisk runs for the sixth wicket before Jurel fell to a half-cut, half-punch that caught the edge to slips. Nair, brought in for Shardul Thakur, and Washington Sundar, the centurion from the gritty draw in Manchester, then settled in and cashed in on a poor phase from England, who repeatedly missed their lines and leaked runs on both sides of the wicket. Thirty of India's 204 runs on the day came in extras.

Late in the day, Nair brought up his half-century with a glance to backward square leg and India will hope that he and Sundar carry the fight into Day 2 and push the total into more comfortable territory.

Brief Scores: India 204/6 (Nair 52*, Sudharsan 38; Tongue 2-47, Atkinson 2-31) vs England.