England continued to dominate the second day of the first Test match in Chennai as they reached 555/8 at the end. Joe Root celebrated his 100th Test with a double century and became the first player to achieve the unique record of scoring a double ton on his 100th Test. Till today the highest score in someone’s 100th test was 184 made by Inzamam-ul-Haq, also against India during the Bengaluru Test in 2005.
Root was the central character of today’s play. He started the day on 128 and never looked in much trouble before he heroically reached his double century with a six off Ravichandran Ashwin. This is also the first instance of an England batsman reaching this milestone with a six. His fifth ever Test century ended on 218 as he was finally trapped in front of Shahbaz Nadeem.
The England captain is in impressive form with three big hundreds in his last three Test matches and it already looks like this is going to be a series with ‘Indian bowlers against Root’ being one of the big plot points. In the last few years, Root’s name was always taken in the same category with Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, and Kane Williamson as part of the fabled ‘Fab Four’ of this era. Not so long ago, there was a feeling that Root is slightly behind the other three and failed to fulfill his true potential. But things have changed significantly in 2021 and the competition among the ‘Fab Four’ intensified significantly.
Indian bowlers tried their best in the challenging conditions. In hot and humid conditions with an unresponsive pitch which is getting slower by the minutes they tried to maintain the pressure and ensured they could make few inroads in the lower order once Root was gone. This also ensured that England could maintain only a run-rate of 3.08 after 180 overs of batting. Ashwin, Nadeem, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ishant Sharma picked a couple of wickets each to share the eight wickets to fall.
Sharma created some late drama when he picked up Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer in two back-to-back deliveries. However, in the hat-trick ball with also his 300th Test wickets insight, he bowled a no-ball. He will look to reach the milestone tomorrow morning if England decide to carry on.
England team management has a decision to make tomorrow morning. Do they think 555 to be enough and declare overnight or do they want to bat for a few more overs and take the score near 600? This will also keep the Indian players in the ground for a few more overs and can bring more mental fatigue. They will also be able to use the roller.
For India, it will be a big test for their star-studded batting line to keep their nerve and bat positively. A big day coming up for Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and the youngster Shubman Gill, playing his first Test on home soil.