Ahmedabad, Mar 4 (IANS): Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope led the England resistance as the visitors went into tea at 144/5 on Day 1 of their fourth Test against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Thursday.

While Pope was on 23 off 73 balls at the end of the second session, Stokes fell to Washington Sundar on 55 off 121. Dan Lawrence was batting on 15 off 29 balls at the other end for England when the umpires led the players back into the pavilion. He hit Ishant Sharma for four with a straight drive off the last ball of the session.

England started the session on 74/3 with Stokes in the middle along with Jonny Bairstow. While the pair had done well to prop up the England innings after they lost three early wickets, including that of their captain and talisman Joe Root, Bairstow did not survive long in the second session.

Mohammed Siraj struck for the second time in the day by trapping Bairstow in his crease. The ball hit Bairstow's pad and the umpire raised his fingers.

Stokes and Pope then put up 43 for the fifth wicket with the former getting to his 24th Test half century and his second of the series. It looked like the pair might be capable of seeing England through to the end of the session but Stokes was done by an arm ball from Sundar. He was given out LBW and walked after a brief conference with Pope.

Lawrence then stood strong with Pope to see the visitors through to tea.

Brief scores: England 144/5 (Ben Stokes 55, Jonny Bairstow 28; Mohammed Siraj 2/34, Axar Patel 2/48) vs India