Amid penalty confusion, Ben Stokes ends up bowling 7-ball over on Day 1 of ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

England delivered a seven-ball over on the opening day of the first Test against India at Leeds on Friday, June 20. The extraordinary event took place in the 51st over, delivered by captain Ben Stokes.

The seventh ball took the outside edge of Yashasvi Jaiswal's bat, but fell short of the slip fielder. The over was the last one bowled before Tea on the first day.

Off the fifth ball of the same over, England were handed a five-run penalty when Harry Brook, who was stationed at second slip, palmed the ball onto the helmets that were kept behind the wicketkeeper.

Test cricket has had six-ball overs since 1979. The longest format had eight-ball overs between 1968/69 to 1978/79. Australia used eight-ball overs from 1936/37 to 1978/79. England also used eight-ball overs in the year 1939.

Tests in England until 1889 were played with five-ball overs before it was switched to six-ball overs in 1902 and continued until 1938.

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India lose Yashasvi Jaiswal after Tea but Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant maintain dominance on Day 1

England captain Ben Stokes got the prized scalp of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 101 in the second over of the post-tea session. The southpaw missed a ball that straightened after pitching on off stump and saw his wickets knocked back.

It ended an outstanding innings from Jaiswal, who has now made a hundred in his debut Test matches in both Australia and England. He scored a fantastic 172 against Australia in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Series at Perth in November 2024.

Earlier in the day, Stokes won the toss and put India into bat. The visitors handed a debut cap to Sai Sudharsan, who was dismissed for a duck in his debut innings. At the time of writing, India were 269/3 with Gill and Rishabh Pant at the crease.