Shubman Gill lost a fourth consecutive toss and India were asked to bat first for the third time in four matches this series. Just as well, the Indian captain might say, because at the spin of the coin, he said he was ‘confused’ about what to do had he called right.

Ben Stokes’s decision to field on Wednesday had much to do with the overhead conditions at Old Trafford though ironically, just moments after he stuck India in, the sun won its battle with the clouds. But that was only a brief interlude. For most of Day One of the fourth Test, it was the clouds that held sway, forcing India’s top order to knuckle down and resort to old-fashioned Test match batsmanship. At stumps, India were 264-4.

Challenge for batters

Nothing illustrated the challenge that confronted the batters better than Yashasvi Jaiswal’s approach. Normally a dasher who loves to play his strokes, the left-handed opener was patience personified, though it helped that at the start of the day, whether by design or accident, KL Rahul faced a vast majority of the balls in Jofra Archer’s first spell. Archer had dismissed Jaiswal in both innings at Lord’s; this time, he bowled only five of his first 30 deliveries at his Rajasthan Royals teammate.