India and England collided for the first time in the five match test series at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. England showed why their team is considered as the best cricket playing squad in the world as the team was at 311/4 when the last session ended.
Indian side looked promising at the start when their bowlers took three quick wickets of Alastair Cook (21), Haseeb Hameed (31) and Ben Dukett (13) which left the England side at 102/3.
It was Joe Root and Moeen Ali’s partnership that saved the visitors from total embarrassment as they recorded a partnership of 179 runs. Their partnership must have put a dent in Indian bowlers’ ego as the dominating bowling duo of R.Ashwin and R.Jadeja was seen struggling against these batsmen.
Joe Root and Moeen Ali played a calm innings and didn’t let pressure hamper their performances, however, it was the Indian side that came under pressure as the match progressed.
Umesh Yadav again proved to be the ‘dark horse’ as he was able to send Joe Root back to the pavilion. The crowd showed its love for cricket by giving a respectful farewell to Joe Root.
Ben Stokes came at the crease and Indian bowlers tried to eliminate the newcomer as quickly as possible but were not able to do so. Ben Stokes helped Moeen Ali in rotating the strike and took the England innings to 311/4 till stumps.
This is not the start that Indian team expected and England continued its dominance in test cricket over India.
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9 November 2016
Rohan Jaitly