India v England, First Test, Rajkot, 9th-13th November

[knocky1]

If you're not going to hold the ball, smile and you'll be given the catch. Cheat.

 

[Luke93]

I'd give it out. The fumble happerned as the bowler chucked it to celebrate, he was smiling at the time.

There should be guidelines from the ICC of 2 seconds of the ball in full control before you can chuck away to stop this akwardness repeating itself.

 

[Titanic]

If you're not going to hold the ball, smile and you'll be given the catch. Cheat.

He quite clearly caught it, and threw it up in the air. It was out.

281-4 (80.5 overs)

JE Root c & b Yadav 124 (180b 11x4 1x6) SR: 68.88

 

[knocky1]

I reckon that was a parry but obviously in a minority. The fielder running in towards Root thought it was a drop.

 

[whitelion]

Sorry, a bit late to point this out, but has anyone mentioned that Day 1 is being shown on the (FREE) Sky Sports MIx channel?

Thanks for the heads up.

Need a break from the US election coverage.

 

[Titanic]

England 304-4 (89.1 overs)... with a straight SIX off Ashwin from Ben Stokes

 

[BensGrandad]

Would like to see Ali get his ton.

 

[knocky1]

Shhhhh.

 

[Titanic]

Close of play, day one

England 311-4 (93 overs)

Ben Stokes 19* and Moeen Ali 99* (192 balls, 9 fours), closing in on his 4th century in his 33rd Test match

With a hundred from Joe Root (124), just what the captain ordered when he won the toss and batted!

 

[ManOfSussex]

First side to score more than 300 against India in India since the Aussies in 2013.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I don't think they could have asked for a better day one than that.

 

[spring hall convert]

Not playing Hameed in Bangladesh. I just don't get it.

What were we going to learn about Gary Ballance that we didn't know before? Now he's out of the picture again and we have a fresh opener facing the Indians.

Totally. And also playing Duckett as an opener to accommodate Ballance at 4 was beyond bizarre.

Though didn't both Cook and Root make their test debuts in India?

 

[Simster]

Oh well, mistakes were made with Ballance over the number of chances he had. We won't see him again for a few years if at all.

I am struggling to believe how well we've done here, it really could have gone the other way at 3 down. I think we need over 500 and we will probably get it.

 

[BensGrandad]

Oh well, mistakes were made with Ballance over the number of chances he had. We won't see him again for a few years if at all.

I am struggling to believe how well we've done here, it really could have gone the other way at 3 down. I think we need over 500 and we will probably get it.

Achievable especially if Moeen Ali can get near to his highest test score 155 not out.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Bravo to England, 300 up and still the meat of our batting order to come.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

I'll lob down a few observations

1. I guess the wicket in India was never going to be as spin friendly as the one for the 2nd test in Bangladesh?

2. winning the toss was crucial

3. I'm think that it's possible the Indian spinners are a bit over-rated and not as good as the Bangladeshi bowlers

4. The close catching was pants

BUT none of this is to take away from the superb batting of Moeen and Root.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'll lob down a few observations

1. I guess the wicket in India was never going to be as spin friendly as the one for the 2nd test in Bangladesh?

2. winning the toss was crucial

3. I'm think that it's possible the Indian spinners are a bit over-rated and not as good as the Bangladeshi bowlers

4. The close catching was pants

BUT none of this is to take away from the superb batting of Moeen and Root.

1. It is simply a BETTER wicket. It is the first ever Test at this venue, and they would have been VERY keen to ensure the match runs to five days.

2. Very much so. It will turn more and more as the days pass.

3. The Bangladesh youngster was impressive (on helpful pitches) but Ashwin is THE spinner in world cricket today. A very, very good bowler.

4. Yes, true enough, though the poor drops were not off Root or Moeen.

 

[ManOfSussex]

Root and Moeen give England huge confidence boost

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent, Rajkot

There was, on the first day, nothing to fear but fear itself. The captain called correctly; the pitch held together defying all pre-tour projections; India’s spinners bowled erratically, English-style; Joe Root burnished his credentials as one of the finest batsmen of the moment, and Moeen Ali followed his example, studiously. A fine day for England.

It finished with Ali tantalisingly one run away from his fourth Test hundred, in company with Ben Stokes and the heart of England’s lower middle-order to come. Root had already completed a sublime 11th Test hundred earlier, before being dismissed to the day’s only controversial moment, when he chipped a return catch to Umesh Yadav, who caught the ball, then dropped it in celebration, only for the umpires to deem the catch well taken.

Root’s disappointment initially stemmed more from the stroke and the context of the moment rather than the decision, since India were on their knees at this point, bemused as to where their next wicket was coming from, and seemingly at a loss having bossed sides too easily of late. This, though, is better pitch than any of the matches involving South Africa last year, or New Zealand this, and so when Virat Kohli lost his first toss in eight attempts at home, he and his bowlers were in unaccustomed territory.

After the difficulties of Bangladesh, so were England on a day that defied expectations. This was an unexpected harvest, although any self-respecting Test team ought to have been able to put a score on the board on a pitch that barely spun, against a team parading just two seamers, with one continually hampered through the day with cramp, as Mohammed Shami was, and against a slip cordon determined to hand over any advantage, by dropping three catches in the opening half hour.

There was more for England to be pleased about as well, given the ball began to reverse swing for the seamers at around the 40-over mark, and holds out promise for more of the same later in the game. Given the lushness of the outfield, it was felt that reverse swing might be hard to come by, but Yadav, in particular, managed to produce some late inswing, enough to bring the only close call of Root’s innings, when the batsman was saved from a leg-before decision by a whisker on review when he had made 91.

That apart, Root looked impregnable. Recently, Geoffrey Boycott picked his all-time Yorkshire XI, which didn’t include the young batsman, but by the end of his career, Root is likely to be challenging for a place in England’s all-time XI, never mind Yorkshire’s. He played as only he can in this England team, which is to say with lovely flowing footwork and a keen ear for the rhythms of the game, balancing the need to score and pressurise the bowlers constantly, while removing excess risk from his game.

Since his move to No 3 last summer, Root had played only one major innings- his mammoth double hundred against Pakistan at Old Trafford - and his team needed his excellence here, since India had shaded the opening session, despite those early dropped catches all of them in the slips. He knows that hundreds at the start of a five-match series count for more than most, as his hundred at Cardiff against Australia had two summers ago.

Both teams looked beset by nerves at the start. Alastair Cook was dropped twice, on 0 and 1, and Haseeb Hameed, who had been confirmed as England’s latest opening batsman in the morning and was watched by his entire family from the stands, was dropped once. For unseasoned observers, it would not have been clear at this stage who was the novice and who the veteran, as Cook played as nervously as he can have played for a long time. Haseeb settled swiftly thereafter, cutting and driving to the fence six times, and looking the part.

Haseeb’s only error, the drop at slip notwithstanding, was failing to persuade Cook to review a leg-before decision to Ravindra Jadeja, when the ball would clearly have missed leg-stump. Then he did review his own dismissal, when trapped from round the wicket by Ravi Ashwin, although he was encouraged to do so by Root at the other end. Ashwin’s second wicket of the morning, and India’s third, came on the point of lunch, when Ben Duckett’s defence was unlocked after the left-hander had taken the off-spinner for three consecutive boundaries, two sweeps and a drive, so setting out the template for what was to come.

That, though, was the sum of it for India, apart from the disputed Root catch towards the day’s end, and for that, England could be thankful to Ali, who accompanied Root through the afternoon session, and on to the close, playing his most controlled and mature innings yet. There is work to do on the second day, and things can change quickly, but England now have a chance to control the game by making a huge first-innings score.

Control is the word that springs to mind when considering Ali’s innings, possibly his best in an England shirt. Perhaps, of all England’s batsmen, he is most at ease using his feet to advance to the spinners, but he has often done so with all out aggression, occasionally to his downfall. Now, he shimmied down with the intention of working the ball into gaps helpfully provided by Kohli, who set the field deep at the start of Ali’s innings, as if he was aware of the left-hander’s past indiscretions, and was sure of a repeat. No repeat came.

A measure of the control Root and Ali established over India’s spinners, was that they bowled just six maidens between them. Kohli gave his leg-spinner, Amit Mishra, ten overs only, and with the bowler’s action lacking any energy or snap, he looked unthreatening. One this showing, Ashwin, who got through 31 overs, will have sore fingers by the end. The field set deep; singles coming easily, spinners lacking control and a captain not keen on his leg-spinner. Heard that somewhere before.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/root-and-moeen-give-england-huge-confidence-boost-vrh9kjsz9

 

[CHAPPERS]

There's NO WAY this should have been given out.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

1. It is simply a BETTER wicket. It is the first ever Test at this venue, and they would have been VERY keen to ensure the match runs to five days.

2. Very much so. It will turn more and more as the days pass.

3. The Bangladesh youngster was impressive (on helpful pitches) but Ashwin is THE spinner in world cricket today. A very, very good bowler.

4. Yes, true enough, though the poor drops were not off Root or Moeen.

Thanks. Take the point about Ashwin although apparently his record against us is not that good. Hope I'm still writing this at the end of the 5th test..............