Dog stops play in cricket match between India and England

Unfortunately for England that’s where the similarities between the two surfaces end. “Four down is not the worst for us but hopefully we’ll have a good day tomorrow”. “The cracks are already misbehaving a little bit so this pitch will deteriorate more than Rajkot”. A potential crisis situation of 22 for two failed to deter the young captain who went on a joy ride with the bat even at a time when the England bowlers were coming at him with all guns blazing. Having done so on the first day, only an Indian collapse of huge proportions on the second day will give England a sniff.

As the day wore on, the Kohli-Pujara combine looked most comfortable against England’s spinners.

But 24 hours down the time line, he was sharing the new ball alongside Stuart Broad and ended up being the most successful bowler on the first day, finishing with figure of 3 for 44 at a time when the Indians looked to be in a relentless, attacking mood. The Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara stand was the first century stand in 43 innings. England surely were glad that the dog stopped the flow or runs, that happened easily.

Commenting on the pitch, Pujara said that the track here is slower than the previous one and might help off-spinners.

You needed a special reason to rest Woakes after the way he bowled in Rajkot.Anderson is special. The rehab has gone well, when I came back to bowling I progressed really quickly. Jadeja didn’t review after discussion with Ashwin to walk back for a duck but replays showed the ball was missing leg stump. Will it be completely spin friendly as it is known for or will it be another “neutral” wicket with some grass on it like the Rajkot one?

That came during a demoralising afternoon session for England that saw Kohli and Pujara score 118 unanswered runs.

If Pujara is ice, Kohli is fire. They thumped Moeen Ali for three fours in the 52nd over of the day, with Kohli hitting the first two. It’s always about playing to the best of your abilities. From India’s point of view, they would like to make a big first innings score so that they don’t have to bat again. I was having a chat with coach Anil Kumble after the West Indies series and he told me there was nothing wrong with my batting.

– Virat Kohli is the sixth Indian batsman to register a hundred in his 50th Test, joining Polly Umrigar, Gundappa Viswanath, Sunil Gavaskar, VVS Laxman and Kapil Dev.

The latter benefited from a marginal “umpire’s call” to survive a Moeen lbw appeal on 139, but there was a late reward for Anderson as he summoned the energy in his one over with the second new ball to have Rahane caught behind. “We don’t know how serious his foot is”. “The last time he played was in August”.