Chennai, 1st Test, Day 1: Batting Day

England won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a toss and a wicket where the winner couldn’t say “we’ll bat” fast enough. The wicket offered little pace, seam or turn.

India selected three finger spinners for this game. R Ashwin’s class meant he had to be watched, but Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, each in his 2nd Test, struggled to control the scoring. The class of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah restricted England to 263/3 even though Joe Root made an unbeaten century in his 100th Test. The three stalwarts conceded 3/135 in 57.3 overs, while Nadeem and Sundar conceded 0/124 in 32. Given that the ball rarely went past the bat, both England and India will be relatively satisfied with the score.

Gaurav Sundararaman @gaurav_sundar

End of Day 1 scores since 2016 in India. (top teams) India 371/4 364/4 356/3 347/6 317/4 291/9 267/3 239/7 224/3 England 311/4 288/5 279/4 268/8 Aus 300/10 299/4 256/9 As it stands this is a typical Day 1 pitch and Eng have been par. Need 550 to challenge India.#INDvENG