Chennai: Alaistar Cook won the toss once again and England had a superb day’s of play, something that they haven’t experienced for quite some time. It was a day when after the loss of openers, England didn’t sink but cruised with the help of partnerships, first between Joe Root and Moeen Ali and later Ali and J Bairstow. But it was Root and Ali who sealed the day for England.
It’s important now that England learn from their mistakes and do not throw away this advantage. Two, two and a half sessions of batting tomorrow and England will be right ahead in the game.
Moeen Ali survived two reviews. Ali also got a life when KL Rahul mistimed his jump and the ball went through his hands. These turned out to be the biggest turning points of the day. Had India got Ali before stumps, the game would have been equally poised at the moment, but that didn’t happen. And thankfully, Ali did make it count not throwing it away and made his fifth Test Century.
It wasn’t the best of days for Ali to start with, he was scratchy, edgy but he fought it out and perhaps this knock would give him a lot more satisfaction than the ones in which the ball flies off the bat from the word go. Joe Root played the other significant innings. In fact, Root shielded Ali, while he was finding his touch, he took the charge and showed why he is such an awesomely rated player. Just when he got out to Ravindra Jadeja, India thought they had an opening but not to be, Bairstow came and started from where Root had left.
It was great to see each pair complementing each other beautifully, realizing the situation of the match and the importance of their wicket. On a wicket that had very slow turn, Jadeja’s extra bounce did the trick and other spinners went wicket less. The only other wicket went to Ishant Sharma.
Earlier in the day, England made a couple of changes and Liam Dawson got a chance to debut. Broad is back from injury. Jimmy (Anderson) and Woakes miss out this test. India also went in with few changes, Amit Mishra playing in for Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma in for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.