IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Mohammed Siraj Pulls off Brilliant Catch to Send Zak Crawley Back to Hut | WATCH

Team India got off to a good start in the five-match Test series against England with a strong bowling performance on Day 1 of the first Test between the sides at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

England won the toss and opted to bat first as India did well on the field to restrict the English innings after a good start to the day.

England lost three wickets before lunch as Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj held on to a difficult catching opportunity offered up to him by English opener Zak Crawley.

Fielding at mid-off, the seamer reacted quickly to pull off a great catch as he helped Ravichandran Ashwin’s cause to get rid of the English batsman.

The opening pair of Crawley and Ben Duckett put up a 55-run stand before Ashwin got the better of Duckett, who was dismissed on 35 as the Indian spinner caught him plumb in front of the wicket.

Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Ollie Pope for just one run before Ashwin struck again with the wicket of Crawley for 20 runs.

Despite how evenly poised the 1st session before lunch was, India stamped their authority all over their oppositions post the break as Axar Patel produced a peach of a delivery to send Jonny Bairstow back to the hut after the Englishman had put up 37 runs off his bat.

Jadeja was back in the thick of things as he scalped the prized wicket of veteran batsman Joe Root for 29 runs before Axar picked up the wicket of Ben Foakes as he was caught behind by KS Bharat.

Foakes, the wicketkeeper-batsman, had made just 4 runs before his untimely dismissal at the hands of the left-arm spinner.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up the first wicket for the pace bowling unit after the spinners had wreaked havoc, as he scaped Reham Ahmed, who was once again caught behind.