The Visitors Humble the Hosts in Series Opener | India vs England 1st Test Review |

 

Almost 4 years of complete domination, India finally lost a test match in it's home soil as the Brits dominated the Indians in the first test match. Despite toiling extremely hard for their efforts, the Indians were no match for the spectacular Englishmen as things start getting dicey in the World Test Championship Finals scenario. 

How did it all unfold? Read the full article to find out just how.

Playing XI : England had made a few changes to their squad since their last outing in Sri Lanka as Jofra Archer, Rory Burns and Ollie Pope were back in action. On the other side of the camp, Ashwin, Ishant, Virat Kohli, Bumrah and Shahbaaz Nadeem were starting ahead of Natarajan, Shardul, Saini, Siraj and Mayank in the Indian starting XI. There was still no place for Kuldeep Yadav in the first test match. 

England 1st Innings : ROOT CONTINUES HIS PURPLE PATCH AS ENGLAND REGISTER A MAMMOTH TOTAL

After winning the toss, the visiting captain Joe Root had no hesitation in batting first as the pitch looked promising for batsmen. England got a decent start from their openers as Sibley and Burns batted with patience. Burns was dismissed by Ashwin for 33 and Daniel Lawrence was dismissed shortly after for a duck by Bumrah, who picked his first test wicket in home soil. What followed next seemed to be a never ending partnership between Dominic Sibley and Joe Root. Sibley took his own time at the crease while Root was oozing confidence. The duo batted with great fortitude and added a 200 run stand. Sibley was dismissed in the final ball of Day 1 by Bumrah at 87. The Indians had no time to celebrate as Ben Stokes joined the party the following day. Root and Stokes played attacking cricket and added yet another century (124) run partnership to their tally before Stokes missed out on a century for 82 after Nadeem got him out. Skipper Root went on to make his second double century in his last three matches before getting LBW by Nadeem for a comprehensive 218 runs. Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler and Dominic Bess played a few valuable cameos of  34, 30 & 34 as this helped England post a gigantic total of 578 runs. The Indian bowlers worked very hard, especially Ashwin and Bumrah. They kept toiling in the sun but England were just too good for them. Ishant and Nadeem grabbed two while Ashwin and Bumrah both grabbed 3 wickets each as India had a tough task ahead of them. 

India 1st Innings : TOP ORDER FAILS BUT PANT & SUNDAR'S HEROICS GUIDE INDIA TO A RESPECTABLE TOTAL

Following such a mammoth total is never easy especially in a pitch deteriorating like it was at Chepauk. India had a bad start as Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Jofra Archer early for just 6. Shubman Gill looked good while he lasted, being dismissed for 29 by Archer as well. India's middle order collapsed as Kohli (11) and Rahane (1) were dismissed shortly after as India was struggling at 73-4. Pujara and Pant continued their hot streak from Australia as the fire-ice duo added a 119-run partnership before Pujara was unluckily dismissed for 73 off Dom Bess. Pant was playing his usual form of cricket as Washington Sundar joined him. In an attempt to attack the offspinner yet again, Pant gave away his wicket at 91, falling short of yet another well deserved century. Sundar batted with the entire Indian tail, scoring an unbeaten 85 as India's innings was halted at 337, falling short of 241 runs from what was asked of them. Dominic Bess was the pick amongst the bowlers, registering figures of 26-5-74-4 while Archer, Anderson and Jack Leach took 2 wickets a piece. 

•The Chennai pitch really worsened after this as there was uneven bounce and it became really slow. This really affected the batting from here on. 

England 2nd Innings : ASHWIN HALTS THE ENGLISH EXPRESS, GIVES INDIA A GLIMMER OF HOPE. 

Deciding not to give India the follow on, England decided to bat on. Ashwin got Burns out on the very first ball of the innings in a record breaking wicket. No other spinner had taken a wicket in the first ball of the innings in over a 100 years. Sibley (18), Lawrence (16) and Stokes (7) could never get going as England's middle order collapsed, kudos to Ashwin and Ishant. Captain Root looked sharp in his innings of 40 runs before Bumrah got him out LBW as England were looking in trouble at 101-5. Ollie Pope, Jos Butter and Dominic Bess all scored much needed cameos of 28, 24 and 25 respectively but none could really get going. Ravichandran Ashwin picked his 28th fifer and registered figures of 17.3-2-61-6 as he helped halt the visitor's innings for just 178; 400 short of their total in the first innings. Bumrah, Nadeem and Ishant were amongst the wicket takers too. In order to win the match, India needed 420 runs, which looked impossible given the circumstances and the class of the bowlers in the opposite camp. And our fears turned out to be true.

India 2nd Innings : MIGHTY INDIA COLLAPSE AS ANDERSON PROVES WHY HE'S REGARDED AS THE BEST

Expectations were soaring high when the Indians came out to bat but what followed next was the complete disembowelment of the Indian batting lineup. Rohit Sharma (12) was once again dismissed early by Jack Leach and so was Cheteshwar Pujara (15). Flamboyant Shubman batted with character and reached his 50 before Jimmy Anderson took his off-stump off the ground. He also dismissed Rahane in the same over for a duck as India was lingering in danger. Rishabh Pant (11) came in and tried to play his natural brand of attacking cricket but he was of no match to Anderson. With Sundar dismissed for a duck by Leach, India seemed to have surrendered to the opposition. Virat Kohli tried to score in as many runs as possible but was bowled by Stokes for a well made 71. After the sipper was gone, the English bowlers quickly ran through the tail enters as India was bowled out for just 192. Jack Leach was the pick amongst the bowlers, finishing his spell with figures of 26-4-76-4. Jimmy Anderson picked 3 cruicial wickets and made sure England got the winner's share of the purse, registering figures of 11-4-17-3. Archer, Bess and Stokes were amongst the wicket takers as well. 

CONCLUSION : Outplaying India in India is a feat only few teams can hold claim to but the current English team may be one of the strongest of them all. Keeping the deteriorating pitch aside, the Englishmen played a high brand of cricket and outplayed India in all aspects of the game. They much deservedly are one of the best teams in the world. They would look forward to replicate the efforts in the upcoming matches in an attempt to qualify for the WTC finals at Lord's. However, India would have to re-think their approach. Some of the players lack consistency as they'd like to make some changes in their spin department as well. They'd also have to work on their techniques as the bat and pad gap is dangerous when the ball starts to reverse swing, which was evident on Day 5. Hopefully both the teams come back strongly and we get to see more neck and neck competition between the two nations. 

Man of the Match - Joe Root (218 and 40 runs)