England had started strongly with a fifty-plus opening stand after they won the toss and chose to bat on the opening day of the first Test against India in Chennai. However, Rory Burns gifted his wicket with a rash reverse sweep that gave India the opening. Jasprit Bumrah then followed it up with a magnificent delivery to dismiss Dan Lawrence for 0. Joe Root survived a run-out as England headed into the lunch break on 67/2, giving Virat Kohli's side tremendous momentum heading into the second session at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
Before the toss, Joe Root was given a special cap by England selector Ed Smith as he became the 15th player to play 100 Tests for the Three Lions. England chose to bat and they included Jofra Archer and James Anderson as the two pacers while India included Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem as the two spinners in addition to Ravichandran Ashwin. Ishant Sharma made a comeback after he missed the Australia series while Jasprit Bumrah was playing in his first Test at home after playing 17 Tests away from home. Virat Kohli, who recently became a father, was back at the helm of the Indian cricket team after Ajinkya Rahane led the team to glory in Australia.
Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley started confidently by rotating the strike and showing intent to keep the scoreboard ticking. However, in Jasprit Bumrah's first ball in Tests in India, Rory Burns glanced a full ball but Rishabh Pant dropped the chance by diving to his right. From that point on, the openers stitched a solid opening partnership.
England solid, but India strike
The Indian spinners, particularly Shahbaz Nadeem erred in his length by bowling too short. For a brief while, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin all struggled to get the right lengths and it showed how long their exile from India was, having not played a Test in their home country for close to 14 months. The partnership went past fifty and England was growing in confidence. Then, a rash judgment from Rory Burns handed the initiative back to India.
Burns opted to reverse sweep a flighted ball from R Ashwin but it bounced a bit more and the ball took the glove as Rishabh Pant completed a simple catch. In another spark of captaincy brilliance, Virat Kohli brought in Jasprit Bumrah from the end Ashwin was bowling and he got his first wicket in India as he trapped Dan Lawrence LBW with a ball that nipped back in and was hitting middle stump. Joe Root looked to be busy and just before lunch, he survived a run-out chance.
India had gone into the defensive mode when Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley were batting. With Root at the crease, they would be looking to attack and get rid of England's premier batsman who has scored 426 runs in two Tests in Sri Lanka.
