England’s Joe Root and Ben Foakes did not let India pick up another wicket till Tea on day one of the fourth Test of the five-match series at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Friday.
Root was unbeaten on 67 and Foakes with 28 not out stitched together an 86-run partnership for the sixth wicket as no England batter got dismissed in a session for the first time in the series so far.
IND vs ENG, 4th Test Day 1 – LIVE
Root raised his first fifty of the series after managing just 77 runs over the previous six innings and receiving criticism for throwing away his wicket off a reverse scoop in the losing third match.
Root and Foakes kept calm in an uncharacteristically patient show of batting by England that was a temporary departure from their attacking “Bazball” style.
With variable bounce in play, Root and Foakes had to play attritional cricket for 16.4 overs in the second session till Root went for a drive off Akash Deep for four and went on to dab through the vacant gully region for another boundary.
Foakes joined the boundary-hitting party by driving Kuldeep Yadav through mid-off and driving against Akash to get two boundaries. Root got his fifty in 108 balls with a single off Ravichandran Ashwin, making this his first Test half-century since hitting 91 during the Ashes at The Oval in July last year.
Root, who shunned the temptation to play sweep or reverse-sweep, went on to time his drive off Kuldeep for a boundary, before punching Ashwin through cover and playing a deft late cut against Ravindra Jadeja. India went for a review when Jadeja trapped Foakes in front of the wicket with an arm ball, but replays showed ball missing stumps as the hosts’ lost all of their reviews in a session which belonged to Root and England.
Earlier, debutant pace bowler Akash Deep picked up three wickets, as Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also picked up a wicket each before lunch.
India leads the series 2-1 after a massive 434-run win in the third test at Rajkot. It also won the second test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs after England won the first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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