England captain Alastair Cook became the fastest (in terms of time taken, 10 years and 290 days) batsman in the history of Test cricket to reach 11,000 runs on the very first ball of the morning when he edged towards cover.
But that is pretty much all he will remember from a first session.
The Chepauk wicket in Chennai looked slow and low. England had won a toss. And again, they did not really capitalise. Ishant Sharma, back in the squad replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, nagged around at an annoying length. Newbie Keaton Jennings got frustrated and tried to drive, but only managed to edge through, in only the fifth over of the day.
Even, Alastair Cook was not having it easy. After one boundary in 38 deliveries, Ravindra Jadeja finally brought this torturous existence to an end, getting him to nick to Virat Kohli at slip reducing England to 21/2.
It could have got worse for England, but India, continuing in their tradition of dropping catches in the first session, gave Moeen Ali a reprieve. KL Rahul mistimed his jump at mid-wicket and shelled a catch when Ali was on nought.
Joe Root and Ali managed to get England through to lunch without any damage but they never really looked comfortable. There were close leg-before-wicket calls, catches falling just short of the fielders and lots of loop and flight which caught bat-pad and had England flummoxed. Joe Root’s 44 though was another display in good batting in tough conditions but the omens do not look good for England.
Brief scores:
England 68/2 (Joe Root 44 not out, Alastair Cook 10; Ishant Sharma 1/5, Ravindra Jadeja 1/12)
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!