On Day one of the Chennai Test – the final match of the five-Test series, one got to see England’s most convincing performance with the bat on their ongoing tour of India. The England captain Alastair Cook called correctly at the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat – this despite there being a certain degree of uncertainty on how the pitch would behave after the incessant rains in the lead up to the match.
Courtesy Moeen Ali’s century, and useful contributions from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, England finished the opening day’s play at a respectable score of 284-4 – a position from which they should aim to finish with at least a total of 500 in the first innings.
The visitors didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing both openers before the drinks break at the end of the first hour. After the drinks break, Joe Root and Moeen Ali exercised caution even as they ensured the scoreboard kept ticking.
The emphasis at that point was to ensure there were no further causalities in the session, and they succeeded in doing the same. England, 21 for 2 at one stage, crawled to lunch at 68 for 2.
Post lunch though, England, perhaps consciously, upped the ante and the two batsmen in the middle started to play a few aggressive strokes. It was the right tactic employed by the batsmen, for had they allowed the Indian spinners to settle into a rhythm, they could have invited problems upon themselves.
Both Root and Moeen Ali displayed intent, used their feet, and even employed the sweep shots – conventional and reverse, to unsettle the Indian spinners.
Root’s innings had class stamped all over it. The 25-year old illustrated through his innings why he is considered the best batsman in this England side. He was at ease against pace and spin, and scored most of his runs without breaking a sweat.
The batsman’s performance against Ravichandran Ashwin in particular was impressive. Root was only beaten or edged three of the 31 deliveries the off-spinner bowled to him.
Only 17 of the 144 balls Root faced were false strokes – that converts to a control degree of 88.2%. The corresponding number for the other English batsmen in the middle during the same period when Root was batting – was 75.5%.
India dismissed Root almost against the run of play, when the England number three feathered one from Ravindra Jadeja to the wicketkeeper. The wicket was the outcome of what at first appeared an unconvincing review by the Indian captain.
However, much to the delight of the Indian camp and the supporters in the stands, the TV Umpire decided that there was enough evidence to suggest the ball had come in contact with the bat, and sent the batsman on his way.
Root’s 88 was his 27th half-century in Test cricket – and the fourth time in this series he had failed to convert a half-century into a three-digit score.
What Root failed to do, Moeen Ali did. The left-hander, dropped by KL Rahul at short midwicket even before he had troubled the scorers, carried on to score his fifth Test century.
It was a brilliant innings from the 29-year old – who has developed to become England’s man for all seasons. Ali has now scored Test hundreds batting at number four, five and seven.
On Friday, he illustrated how to build an innings. In the morning session, when the need of the hour was not to lose another wicket, he exercised caution. In the afternoon session, when the strategy was to put the pressure back on the home team, he stepped on the accelerator and played a few attacking strokes.
In the evening session, he continued to play freely and brought up his fourth Test century of the year – just as many as Virat Kohli has scored in 2016 – though without drawing too much attention to his achievement.
The telling statistic – and the one that will perhaps paint the picture best of how England finished the day with the upper hand – is that Ravichandran Ashwin had no success. The off-spinner, playing in his home ground, ended day one with disappointing figures of 24-1-76-0.
Earlier in the day, Alastair Cook joined an elite club of batsmen when he picked up a brace from the first ball of the Test match.
He became only the tenth batsmen in the history of cricket – and the first Englishman – to reach the 11000 Test runs milestone. What is incredible about Cook’s achievement is that he is the youngest to get to the milestone.
The 31-year-old is more than two years younger than Sachin Tendulkar, who was the previous youngest to achieve the feat.
One can only guess how many runs Cook could end up with if he goes on to play until the age of 40, which is the age at which Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from Tests.
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