England had the upper hand at the end of Day 1 of the first Test at Rajkot, blunting the Indian bowling attack in the second and the third sessions to finish at 311/4. Joe Root (124) steered England's fightback after the team lost three wickets at the stroke of lunch. The English vice-captain had good support from Moeen Ali, who is a run shy of a century. Root and Ali notched up 176 for the fourth wicket.

After England got off to a watchful start, Ravindra Jadeja drew first blood. Alastair Cook was caught leg-before trying to flick the ball on the leg side. India's in-form bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin, took the wickets of Hameed and Ben Duckett to leave England in trouble at 102/3.

Later on Ali and Root showed tremendous grit while playing India's spin trio. After completing his 11th Test hundred, Root was dismissed in the final hour of the day's play by Umesh Yadav. India's fielding was sloppy through the day and they dropped four catches.