England beat India by 227 runs in the first test as Virat Kohli’s men were bowled out for 192 chasing 420 to win in Chennai. In the process, England take a 1-0 lead in the series and Joe Root equals Michael Vaughan with the most Test wins as captain (26). This was also England’s sixth win in Asian condition under Root’s captaincy. Meanwhile, this was Virat Kohli’s fourth straight loss as India’s Test skipper.
Set to chase 381 on the final day, Shubman Gill (50) and Cheteshwar Pujara (15) resumed the innings for Kohli & Co. England took the wicket of Pujara pretty early in the innings courtesy Jack Leach. Having got the wicket of Pujara early, England sniffed a chance to win the Test match.
England Ride High On Bowlers’ Success vs India
This was when England skipper brought on James Anderson for his first spell of the day, a move which turned out to be a masterstroke. He picked three wickets in that spell to reduce India from 58 for 2 to 110 for 5. In a brilliant display of reverse swing bowling, Anderson first dismissed Gill just after he got to his fifty and two balls later Ajinkya Rahane for a duck.
He came back again to dismiss Rishabh Pant (11) to end any hopes of an Indian win. That spell was by Anderson was a killer blow by the visitors to Virat Kohli & Co. Before this game, Anderson had 26 wickets in India and the veteran pacer took his tally to 31 after the first Test.
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Virat Kohli was watching wickets fall from the other end. He got to yet another Test fifty and added a stand of 54 with gritty Ravichandran Ashwin (9) who coped up a few blows but looked dogged to fight it out. However, Jack Leach returned to dismiss the Indian spinner and put an end to his fighting vigil. He faced 46 deliveries for his nine runs but was finally dismissed for 171 runs. Ashwin was the seventh wicket to fall for India.
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Ben Stokes then got the big wicket of Virat Kohli for 72 as England picked up the last two wickets in a jiffy to bowl out the hosts for 192 and win the match by 171 runs. Jack Leach after going on the journey in the first innings took four wickets in the second innings and six in the match.
England skipper Joe Root was awarded the Player of the Match for a magnificent display of batting in his 100th Test. He also broke a few other records as he led England to a famous win in tough conditions in Chennai.
Both teams meet for the second Test in three days’ time for the second Test starting from February 13 at the same venue, this time with spectators watching the game.
England 578 (Root 218, Sibley 87, Stokes 82) and 178 (Ashwin 6-61) beat India 337 (Pant 91, Sundar 85*, Pujara 73, Bess 4-76) and 192 (Kohli 72, Leach 4-76) by 227 runs
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