NEW DELHI: England pacer Mark Wood made India's top-order batsmen hop and jump with his pace and bounce on the first morning of the third Test against India in Rajkot, including a delivery that rammed into the grill of hosts captain and opener Rohit Sharma.
Wood, who was brought in by England to replace Shoaib Bashir in the playing eleven for the match, rattled India's top order and dismissed the Vizag centurions Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) and Shubman Gill (0) to reduce India to 24/2, after which spinner Tom Hartley foxed Rajat Patidar (5) to make it 33/3.
SCORECARD: India vs England 3rd TestRohit, meanwhile, was continuously being tested by Wood with sharp bouncers, one of which hit the grill of his helmet before ricocheting behind the wickets in the 10th over of India's innings.
Captain Rohit hasn't been in the best of forms in the series, having failed to go past the 30s in the four innings he has played so far in the two Tests held in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
Earlier on Thursday, India won the toss and Rohit had no hesitation in deciding to bat first in the match which is the 100th Test appearance for England captain Ben Stokes.
India handed debuts to middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan and wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel.
The five-match series is currently level at 1-1.
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