India vs England 2021, 1st Test - Who Said What

England locked horns with India in the first Test of the four-match Test series at Chennai, and things couldn’t have turned better for the visitors. Keeping their top-level form intact from the Sri Lanka tour, England defeated India in the 1st game by a massive margin of 227 runs. Toss went in the favour of guests, and from there, luck favoured them all the way. The major destruction happened in the first innings of the game only, where England posted massive 578 runs on the board.

Skipper Joe Root was declared as the man of the match for his class apart double ton (218) in the first innings that led England to fly high. Ravi Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah had three wickets each under their belt. When India walked up to chase, their show ended on 337 runs where Rishabh Pant (91) and Washington Sundar (85) showered little hopes for the fans. In the visitor’s case, Dom Bess picked a four-for to end India’s show early in time.

England dominated the game from the day one

England didn’t impose the follow-on and came again on the pitch, but this time the pitch had already started turning. They got bundled up on 178 runs courtesy Ashwin’s top spell, but India still had massive 420 runs ahead of them. The hosts didn’t hang up to a desirable start and started losing wickets in no time. Shubman Gill (50) and Virat Kohli (72) tried their level best for a draw but failed to gain support from the other end. Jack Leach bagged four wickets under his belt this time.

Losing skipper, Virat Kohli said

 It was a pretty slow wicket with not much happening in the first two days with the ball. You have to give credit where it’s due and we have to understand the things that we’ve done decently in this game. England played far more professionally. You need your bowling unit to step up and perform more collectively. It’s okay, lack of execution is understandable. We’re always learning as a side. Test cricket is a grind. England were ready for the grind and were far more equipped. Firstly start off with good body language, understand the fields, and at the end of the day it’s the mindset. As a side, we’re a side that always improves and knows how to bounce back. Yeah, Pant is a guy who likes to have fun on the field. That’s his personality and it’s very helpful for the team. He brings a lot of energy.

Winning skipper and Player of the match, Joe Root said

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 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 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.