Thursday 2 August 2018 08:11, UK
England briefly held the ascendancy on day one of the first Test against India only to end it in a somewhat unlikely mire... here's all you need to know from day one of the first Test, at Edgbaston.
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Virat Kohli's magnificent run out of Joe Root turned the fortunes of England and India, the hosts closing on 285-9, writes David Currie. READ HERE!
Kohli ran out Root for 80 - the 11th consecutive Test fifty that the England captain has failed to convert into a hundred - to trigger a devastating final-session collapse from 216-3.
One moment transformed the balance of the day and, inevitably, it involved Virat Kohli. England were in cruise control as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow completed a hundred-run stand but they were separated by an outstanding piece of fielding from India's skipper. Danger seemed far off when Bairstow clipped Ashwin through midwicket and set off in pursuit at two - a challenge Root accepted without complaint. But Kohli chased down the ball and, without sliding, collected it one-handed before throwing down the non-striker's end despite throwing off-balance. It was the first of three wickets to fall for eight runs - Bairstow chopping on and Buttler falling lbw.
Kohli's celebration harked back to the recent ODI series - the skipper blowing an air kiss as Root trudged off, putting his finger to his lips and then imitating Root's bat drop.
Virat Kohli wasted little time introducing spin into the attack, handing Ravichandran Ashwin the ball for the seventh over of the innings and it took the veteran just 11 deliveries to make his mark when he bowled Alastair Cook with a beauty that hit the seam, gripped a little on the tacky pitch and beat the outside edge to cannon into the stumps. It was the conclusion to a beautiful set up by Ashwin, who varied his pace and trajectory in his previous deliveries before finding a little extra dip to claim the first scalp of the series.
Joe Root became the fastest player in Test history to register 6,000 runs in terms of time - achieving the feat in five years 231 days, surpassing Alastair Cook (five years, 339 days), Kevin Pietersen (six years exactly) and Australia's David Warner (six years, 25 days).
No doubt you know that this is England men's 1,000th Test. But were you aware that England played in the first 74 Test Matches - a span which ran from March 1877 all the way to August 1902? That stretch was broken by the South Africa v Australia match at Johannesburg which started in October 1902. To this date, England have featured in 999 of 2,313 Tests, which equates to just over 43 per cent.
Should India have shown more faith in Cheteshwar Pujara? The 30-year-old lost his place in the Test side after averaging 14.33 in 12 innings for Yorkshire this summer, without a fifty to his name. Nasser Hussain said he wouldn't have left him out on those stats alone but would have focussed on the 4,531 runs he has scored at an average of 50.34 in Test cricket. Hussain said: "You can't argue he's been dropped because he's out of nick because they've picked a player in Shikhar Dhawan who bagged a pair in the last game they played."
NASSER HUSSAIN on Root's run out: "There were memories of that first day in the Ashes when James Vince was run out on 83. England looked like a side who would compete then but that moment turned that series. You will hope as an England fan this one won't turn this series but it turned the day. It was brilliant from Kohli."
KEATON JENNINGS on day one: "It is an opportunity missed but both sides haven't batted yet. It was a little bit sombre after the run out [of Root]. We've got four or five guys in our dressing room who are really good at getting lateral movement so we need to put the ball in the right places tomorrow. You never really know what a good score is until both sides have batted on it."
JENNINGS on Kohli's reaction to running out Root: "Everybody is entitled to celebrate how they want. He celebrated and that's cool. Whether [the run out] was a mix-up [between Root and Bairstow], I don't know, I wasn't in the middle. It's down to them to shake hands, have a beer and sort it out."
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