IND vs ENG: Rohit ton headlines India's dominance on opening day

Rohit Sharma's brilliant 161 coupled with Ajinkya Rahane's fifty helped India take day one honours in the second Test against England at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Published : Feb 13, 2021 17:39 IST , Chennai

Rohit Sharma's brilliant 161 coupled with Ajinkya Rahane's fifty helped India take day one honours in the second Test against England at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday. The host was 300/6 at stumps with Rishabh Pant and debutant Axar Patel at the crease.

On the third ball of the 42nd over, Moeen Ali bowled a full ball on middle stump and Rohit Sharma swept it fine of long leg to bring up an almost effortless 100, his seventh in Test cricket and first against England. That Rohit reached the milestone off 130 balls on a first-day dustbowl was as important as the shot he played to get there, a paddle sweep.

Scorecard | Highlights

In the first Test which England won at the same venue, Joe Root unsettled the Indian spinners with the sweep. This time Root's men were at the receiving end of it as Rohit productively employed the sweep shot against England spinners Jack Leach and Ali, who went for a combined 190 in their 52 overs.

Root rotated his bowlers in search of a breakthrough but only Leach came close to getting one. He induced an outside edge off Rahane's bat just before tea but the ball fell short of the slip fielder. The Indian vice-captain reached his 50 off 104 balls.

 

Rohit, Rahane dig deep

Earlier, Ali, brought in to replace Dom Bess, left Virat Kohli gobsmacked when he bowled him through the gate with a big-turning offbreak. Such was the impact of the ball that umpires called for a review to check if the ball had ricocheted off the keeper. Minutes later, Stuart Broad, fielding at long-off, would gesticulate to the fans that the Indian captain had been done in by a classic off-break. This was after Cheteshwar Pujara had been caught at slip following an 85-run stand with Rohit. Opener Shubman Gill was trapped in front for nought.

 

While it was a huge toss to win for the host side, Sharma and Rahane played quite brilliantly, adding 162 for the fourth wicket off 310 balls. Rohit eventually fell to the sweep shot, hitting Leach straight to deep square leg where Ali took a fine running catch. Rahane fell shortly after, clean bowled for 67 by Ali.

Umpiring controversy

A few balls earlier, with Rahane on 66, England had reviewed for a catch at short leg. But the replays only checked for lbw, resulting in Rahane being adjudged not out. While another set of replays confirmed that the ball had indeed hit his glove, which the TV umpire Anil Chaudhary failed to check the deflection off the glove much to the disappointment of Root. However, it didn't cost England dearly as he was out five balls later for the addition of one run and the visiting side retained its review.

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England made inroads with the old ball in the final session but at the close of play, India seems to have put up a good first-innings score on a deteriorating pitch.

 

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