England won by 227 runs
ENG 578 & 178
IND 337 & 192
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shahbaz Nadeem
England (Playing XI): Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root(c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler(w), Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, James Anderson
Root has won six out of six as captain in Asian conditions. His side beat Sri Lanka in five successive games and have started their India tour with a bang. They will take a lot of positives from this Test especially the performances of players playing their first game in alien conditions. India have been given a reality check after the highs of Australia and they once again find themselves having to come back from behind to win a series. They managed to do that a month or so ago. Can they do it again? The second Test is at the same venue on a different surface and it will start in four days time (February 13). Don't forget to join us for that game. For now, this will be Akshay Maanay signing off on behalf of my colleagues MS Ramakrishnan, Sagar Chawla and Siva. Goodbye!
Most Test wins among England captains:
26 Joe Root (47 Tests) *
26 Michael Vaughan (51)
24 Andrew Strauss (50)
24 Alastair Cook (59)
20 Peter May (41)
Virat Kohli has now lost his last four Tests as captain - the most he has lost in succession. In the seven Tests prior to that he had won seven in a row, the longest such sequence for an Indian captain.
Most consecutive wins by visiting sides in Asia
7 Australia (2002-04)
6 England (2018-21)*
No other instances of more than three successive win
Joe Root as captain in Asia: Six Tests | Six wins. Among visiting captains in Asia, only Graeme Smith (eight wins in 21 Tests) and Clive Lloyd (seven in 17) have won more Tests as skipper.
Joe Root | England captain and Player of the Match: Crucial toss but from that point we had to follow through and make the most of a very good wicket. We did that very well. To take 20 wickets in alien conditions is a brilliant job from the bowlers. Knew from the outset it was going to be a good wicket. The first partnership got us going. Different stages guys came in and contributed. That's got to be the way - if we're going to win out here someone has to do that. Fortunately it was me this week. We know that India are going to come back hard at us. The idea was to get to 400. Didn't quite materialise like that. But having spent some time out there, I knew the wicket had changed drastically and knew it was going to change again. Wanted to take India's win out of the equation. As a bowling group we didn't want to worry about the run rate. Standing here, having won the first game is very pleasing. The way he (Anderson) goes about things, challenging himself constantly and getting better all the time even at 38. He's a great role model to the rest of the group. His skill level is right up there with anyone we've ever seen.
Dom Bess starred for England with the ball as the visitors took control of the opening Test in Chennai. Bess picked up four wickets after England posted a massive 578 on the board that has now left India needing another 122 runs to avoid the follow-on. Washington Sundar and R Ashwin stemmed the rot towards the end but with momentum on their side, England will fancy their chances of picking up a rare win on Indian soil.
Earlier in the day, overnight batsmen Bess and Jack Leach continued to frustrate India which forced the hosts to take the new ball. While Jasprit Bumrah made the first breakthrough getting rid of Bess, R Ashwin cleaned up James Anderson, thus ending India's frustrating stay out in the field that lasted 190.1 overs. England looked to capitalise on that by making early breakthroughs and Jofra Archer, playing his first Test match in this part of the world, made an immediate impact.
Archer got one to slightly move away off a good length to take Rohit Sharma's edge to put India on the backfoot very early. Shubman Gill played some delightful shots to begin with but his approach cost him his wicket eventually as he hit one straight to mid on where a diving Anderson took a good low catch.
Post lunch, India adopted a conservative approach in their attempt to rebuild but after 10 overs, Bess ran the show, though. He first dismissed the Indian skipper Virat Kohli with a delivery that came into the batsman to take the inside edge to the short leg and soon after got Ajinkya Rahane as well, who hit a low full toss to cover where Joe Root took a stunning catch to his left.
Literally gifting their wickets, India were in deep trouble at 73/4, still more than 500 behind. Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara, the heroes in Australia, then joined forces again to give the hosts some hope. While Pant came out all guns blazing like he usually does, even Pujara looked very active in the crease using his feet to good effect against the spinners. Pant took a liking to Leach in particular smashing him for sixes on multiple occasions without any fear despite England stationing fielders at the boundary.
Bumrah comes close
The seamer doesn't really get a helpful surface for his first home Test and as a result, slips in one yorker in search of a wicket but Burns somehow manages to keep it out. That was close but it was a no-ball anyway. And then to finish the over, he pitches one on good length that misses Sibley's outside edge by a whisker. Bumrah is bending his back and that's perhaps the only way to make things happen here.
England survive opening hour
This wicket looks like a road at the moment. There is absolutely nothing in it for the seamers and Rory Burns and Dom Sibley survive the opening hour. Kohli did introduce Ashwin into the attack but these two have looked assured so far. India would love a wicket before the lunch break.
What next for Kuldeep?
By this time two years ago, India's head coach Ravi Shastri had claimed that Kuldeep will be India's first choice spinner overseas. But since then, his progress has stalled quite incredibly. Kuldeep featured in just 5 IPL games last year and in the entire Australian tour, he was handed an opportunity just once - in an ODI which was also a dead rubber. When India had to go in with a completely new-look bowling attack at the Gabba to round off the tour, Kuldeep was still ignored with Washington being handed a debut. And now with Jadeja and Axar injured, the 26-year-old still doesn't get an opportunity with the team management favouring Nadeem. From first-choice overseas spinner to potentially 4th choice left-arm spinner in the country, this is some fall.
Tough start for Pant
The scrutiny surrounding his keeping will hardly go away. It takes Pant less than two overs to drop one. This wasn't the easiest. Burns went a long way across and looked to glance one down the leg side but he gets an edge and a diving Pant grasses it.
**Published by The Beyond News**