Joe Root’s brilliant 124 along with Moeen Ali’s stroke-filled 99* helped England put on 311-4 at the end of day 1 of the first Test against India at Rajkot. After choosing to bat first, both the England openers were lucky to survive as the Indian slip fielders failed to grab three catches early in the match. Alastair Cook was dropped twice (Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli were the culprits in those instances) inside the first two overs while Haseeb Hameed was dropped by Murali Vijay few balls later.
The dropped catches didn’t hurt India much as the spinners managed to dismiss both Cook and Haseeb in quick succession before Ashwin struck again to dismiss Ben Duckett just before lunch. Ali and Root frustrated the Indian bowlers for the next three hours as they put on a 179-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Root scored his 11th Test ton before he was controversially dismissed by Umesh Yadav for 124. Moeen Ali carried on and remained unbeaten on 99 off 192 balls while Stokes is still batting on 19.
Also read: Mohammad Shami sustains hamstring injury on day 1
Here are some of the important numbers from the day’s play.
23- Rajkot is India’s 23rd Test venue.
19 years, 295 days- Haseeb Hameed is the fifth youngest England player to play Test cricket.
Haseeb Hameed is the second youngest after J Crawford to open the batting for England in Tests.
10- Haseeb Hameed is Alastair Cook’s 10th opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss.
Mohammed Shami is the only player in the playing XI of either side in this Test without a first-class ton.
This is the first time Virat Kohli has lost a toss in a Test at home.
Virat Kohli has not fielded the same XI in consecutive Tests under his leadership. This is the 18th time he is leading India in Tests.
Alastair Cook has led England in 55 Tests, the most by any England captain.
100- This is Stuart Broad’s 100th Test match.
9- This is Joe Root’s ninth 50+ Test score in 2016, the most by any batsman.
2- Joe Root is the second batsman after Jonny Bairstow to score 1000 Test runs in 2016.
11- This is Joe Root’s 11th Test ton, 3rd against India and the first in India.
Joe Root becomes the first visiting player since Michael Clarke in 2013 to score a Test ton in India.
46- R Ashwin has taken 46 wickets in 2016, the joint-most by any bowler (along with Rangana Herath).
1- Ben Stokes has scored his first runs against India. Before today, he has played three innings and got out for a duck in all three of them.
13- Moeen Ali is the 13th player and 15th instances of a batsman remaining 99* overnight.
This is the first time since 2013 a visiting team has scored 300 against India in India.
99- Moeen Ali's unbeaten 99 is his highest Test score outside England.
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