England build on solid Root

Joe Root continued to weave his magic in his milestone game as England built solidly on his robust foundation to put themselves in a position of great strength in the opening Test against India on Saturday.

The skipper, in sensational form since the start of the year where he has hardly played a wrong shot, crafted a brilliant 218 (377b, 536m, 19x4, 2x6), and with Ben Stokes hitting a counter-punching 82 off just 118 balls, a determined England took stumps on the second day at a commanding 555/8 in 180 overs.

While England enjoyed another day of dominance on a placid MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch where the ball barely misbehaved and Indian bowlers toiled hard, it was not easy work actually for Root and Stokes. It was a typical Test match grind and they responded to the challenge admirably that has certainly set the series up nicely at the beginning itself.

India started the second morning with intent. With a fresh Stokes at crease, they sensed a wicket would give them a crack at the England middle order and present them with a chance of bowling out England for less than 400. Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin expectedly kick-started proceedings and the two leading acts were right on the money from the word go.

Just like the opening day, they bowled impeccable lines and lengths, constantly pegging away at Stokes and Root. Despite the surface not offering much help — there was no lateral movement off the pitch, no swing nor much turn — they kept probing both Stokes and Root. Later Ishant Sharma joined Ashwin and the veteran seamer too barely gave anything away.

Root and Stokes soaked up all the pressure admirably well. They knew once they saw off this tough opening hour, there were bowlers and runs for the taking. So they shut shop for the first hour, trusted their defences and thwarted all dangers stoically to frustrate the Indians.

In the sapping Chennai heat it’s hard for bowlers — even spinners — to bowl long spells and skipper Virat Kohli eventually had to hand the ball to the inexperienced duo of Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar. That’s when Stokes decided to switch gears to knock the stuffing out of India.

He swept, reverse swept and played the lofted shots, taking a special liking for Shahbaz. While Shahbaz is a seasoned campaigner in the domestic circuit and has done well on such unresponsive surfaces, he simply didn’t have a response to the audacity of Stokes, the best all-rounder in the world at the moment.

Whatever adjustments he made, Stokes just kept belting him for boundaries as runs started to come in a torrent in the second hour. The steady flow continued post lunch too as Kohli was caught in two minds — to continue attacking or switch to defence. Initially he stayed on the attack by asking Stokes to go after the bowling and the ploy didn’t work as the left-hander connected well everything thrown at him.

At the other end, Root soldiered on smoothly without any fuss. He was a spectator largely to Stokes spectacle before he too got into the groove after the southpaw’s dismissal. He blended attack and defence into a heady cocktail that Indians simply had no choice to savour and applaud. Such was the zone Root was in, he raised his double century with a six down the ground and he took a moment to realise he’d gotten there. It was his fifth double ton and second in three Tests. He also became the first batsman to score a double in his 100th Test.

Indians got some rewards late in the day with a flurry of wickets. But the ninth-wicket pair of Jack Leach and Dom Bess presented a dead bat to extend India’s stay in the middle. Root, at the end of the opening day, said 600 runs is needed to challenge the Indians. They’re almost there. Game on in the moving day.