England skipper Joe Root (128*) scored as the visitors took the honors on Day 1 of the first Test in Chennai. They ended on 263 for 3 with Root and Dom Sibley (87) adding A 200-run stand to frustrate Indian bowlers. The Indian bowlers had no answer to the domination from the two batsmen on the first day as it tired them down. More about the day 1 report in detail below.
England skipper Joe Root won the toss and opted to bat first. Rory Burns (33) added 63 for the first wicket with Sibley and in a brain-fade moment gave his wicket away. He tried to reverse sweep the Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who provided India their first breakthrough. Soon after Jasprit Bumrah picked up his first Test wicket at home as he dismissed Dan Lawrence for a duck. The England scorecard then read 63 for 2.
That was when the England skipper got together with Sibley and changed the course of the proceedings. The duo added 200 runs off 390 deliveries and in the process took the team to a position of strength at stumps. Both the batsmen mixed caution with aggression and left the Indian bowlers frustrated. Root especially started on an aggressive note and Soon Sibley followed Root’s route as well.
Joe Root’s Day Out At The Chepauk
They headed into lunch at 67 for 2. Post the lunch-break they upped the scoring rate and scored freely from the two Indian spinners Washington Sundar and Shabaz Nadeem who was picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav after Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test. While Sibley went past his fifty in the session, Joe Root was unbeaten on 45.
Resuming at 140 for 2, England scored 123 runs in the final session and brought up the 200-run stand as well. The Indian bowlers had lost all the energy by the last session and skipper Virar Kohli had ran out of ideas. Jasprit Bumrah, in the final over of the day, trapped Sibley plumb in front of the wicket to give India some semblance at the end of the day’s play.
The Indian bowlers looked for ideas in the final two sessions with Root and Sibley going strong. Root especially swept the Indian spinners off his feet and more so to Ashwin. The battle between the two greats was won well by Root at the end. The inability of Ashwin to dismiss Root was one of the highlights of the day’s play. The frustration on Kohli and Ashwin’s face was clearly visible while Root was going strong at the other end.
Ashwin and Nadeem bowled more than 40 overs between themselves taking just a solitary wicket. This was when the team missed Kuldeep Yadav and his mystery spin potential. The pacers, Ishant Sharma (15) and Jasprit Bumrah (18.3) bowled over 30 overs and picked up two wickets giving away 67 runs.
It was a day to remember for the England skipper who scored a century on his hundredth Test. It was his 20th Test ton, fifth vs India and second in India.
England 263 for 3 (Sibley 87, Root 128* Bumrah2/40) vs India