Twitter Reactions: Dominant Rohit Sharma puts India in command on Day 1

England entered in scene II at Chennai in a fashion least would have thought. But as most, including the England skipper Joe Root, expected, India came into the reckoning in a statement-giving manner, going to stumps on day one with a handy lead.

Winning the toss and opting to bat on a much livelier track, India made three changes, handing Axar Patel his maiden cap apart from including Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj, at the expense of Shabaz Nadeem, Washington Sundar, and Jasprit Bumrah, respectively. Having named their XII on the eve of the fixture, England welcomed Moeen Ali and Ben Foakes and introduced a new-look bowling attack in Stuart Broad and Olly Stone.

India was jolted early as Shubman Gill perished to misjudgment, shouldering arms to an Olly Stone delivery that nipped in from a length, and trapped him on the front. England employed spin early and the puffs of dust, slightly uneven bounce, and the odd ball turning sharply were all signs that the track was true to expectations. Given the black-soiled top layer, the footmarks and signs of deprecation became visible as early as the first session, and bar Rohit Sharma, every other batsman looked in some trouble while tackling the England bowlers.

Dominant show from Rohit Sharma

After the early loss of Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara was, quite characteristically, solid in defense and kept meeting the pitch of the ball as he added runs at his own sweet pace. He was lucky in surviving a couple of chances off Jack Leach when despite healthily edging the ball, the ball did not carry to the slips. Although, the 85-run alliance for the second wicket ended when Leach was finally rewarded as Pujara lunged forward and edged to Ben Stokes in slips.

Having largely kept the foot on the accelerator in a session where the opponents notched up runs at or around the 4-run mark, the fortunes swayed England’s way courtesy of Moeen Ali, who left the Indian skipper Virat Kohli dumbfounded, dismissing him for a rare duck. Exploiting a raging turn from a rough developed outside the off stump, Moeen nicely tossed one up, luring Kohli for the expansive drive, and witnessed the ball running through the wide gap between bat and pad before knocking the top of off.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, unfazed by anything unfurling at the opposite end, played with utter positivity as he swept, paddled, drove, and pulled his way to a 47-ball 50. So complete and clear was his domination that out of India’s 106 at Lunch, no less than 80 came off his bat.

Rohit-Rahane march on

Starting slowly after the proceedings resumed, both Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane tucked in their tents deeper as they played vigilantly. Rahane got into his groove picking up a couple of boundaries off Olly Stone after a brief passage of inactivity, whereas a watchful Rohit Sharma got back into his elements too, as he smoked a six against Moeen Ali to reach 97.

A couple of nervy moments and a maiden over from Stuart Broad later, Rohit paddle swept one behind off Moeen to reach his 7th Test century off 130 balls. While it was Rohit’s elegance that hogged all the attention, Rahane fought hard and quietened his naysayers in style, accomplishing a half-century after Tea in tough and challenging conditions. Keeping his composure intact, he took India to a position of strength in what was a wicket-less session for the visitors as India moved to 189/3 at Tea.

England clawback 

India was in complete command when Rohit Sharma nudged Joe Root for a single to script his fourth 150-plus score in Test, although he holed out deep square leg off Leach soon after, to bring the 162-run partnership to an end. Squeezed between Rohit’s fall and Rahane’s dismissal was a bit of umpiring controversy: England reviewed a catch at short leg in the 75th over, when the third umpire only confirmed if there was an inside edge, failing to ensure if there was any glove involved.

That there was some glove involved indeed and Rahane survived did not matter much as Moeen Ali cleaned him up while he was trying to sweep the spinner. The new man Rishabh Pant showed his natural instincts, smacking Jack Leach for a four before dancing down the track to pick a six over long-on in the following over.

Adding 35 with Ravi Ashwin, Pant assaulted Moeen Ali too, in the 82nd over, scoring boundaries off successive balls. Ashwin, after trying to get a few runs for himself, perished as India’s last wicket of the day, pushing a Joe Root delivery straight to short leg. Pant pulled Stone in the final over of the day to take India to 300/6 at stumps.

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