Rajkot: Riding on Joe Root's 124 and Moen Ali's 99*, England reached 311 runs losing four wickets on day 1 of the first Test against India at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium here this evening.
Visiting skipper Alastair Cook earlier won the toss and opted to bat on a surface which looked good for batting for for the initial couple of days.After a good start, the visitors lost the first wicket in the15th over on 47 runs when spinner Ravindra Jadeja caught captain Alastair Cook (21) in front of the wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin was the next to strike as he dismissed the other England opener Haseeb Hameed (31) leaving them at 76/2.The Chennai spinner provided the another breakthrough soon when he sent back Ben Duckett on an individual score of 13, making him caught at the slips by Ajinkya Rahane leaving the visitors reeling at 102/3.
However, the scenario changed in the post-lunch session as batsmen Joe Root and Moen Ali played sensibly to guide their team to 209 runs and making the Indian bowlers sweat hard for wickets.
There was some respite for India as the tea session resumed, as Root (124) was dismissed by pacer Umesh Yadav after he slammed his maiden century in the sub-continent.However, Ali on the other hand kept things in control for the visitors and added 30 runs with the next batsman Ben Stokes before stumps were drawn for the day.Ali and Stokes are unbeaten on 99 and 19 runs respectively, with England reaching a commanding 311 runs on the first day. (UNI)