England are in a commanding position at the end of play on day one of the first Test against India, thanks to a century from Joe Root and an unbeaten 99 from Moeen Ali.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, English openers Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed were lucky to last the first hour of play after three catches were dropped by the Indian slip cordon. Indian pacers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav bowled well on a largely unhelpful pitch, but to no avail.
The Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had success early on in their respective spells as England were reduced to 102/3 at lunch.
It was then that Moeen Ali joined Root in the middle and the pair added 179 runs for the fourth wicket. Root was finally dismissed for 124 in somewhat controversial circumstances after Umesh seemed to have thrown the ball just after gaining complete control of it. In the end, Root was adjudged to be out by the third umpire.
Moeen Ali, on the other hand, could have a sleepless night after ending the day one run short of a hundred. Here, we collect the top tweets from the day’s play.
Proper First Day Test Match Batting... Sensible at times...aggressive at times...Great start @englandcricket ... #LovedIt
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 9, 2016
What a player @root66 is. Making it look very easy at the moment out in India. Hopefully this won't jinx him. #legend #hero #100 🏏
— Tim Bresnan (@timbresnan) November 9, 2016
England's day without a shadow of doubt. If you want to have a chance of winning on the sub-continent, you bat first and pile on the runs.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 9, 2016
Well played @root66 great start to series and sign of intention. Never quiet for long #IndvsEng
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) November 9, 2016
Great day for England that!! I wonder if Mo Ali sleeps well tonight!! 🙈🙈 #IndvEng
— Scott Borthwick (@Borthwick16) November 9, 2016
Not a single boundary by stepping out...only one by sweeping (full toss). That's Joe Root vs Spin today. #INDvENG
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 9, 2016
.@root66 is 1st overseas player to score a century in India since @MClarke23 in 2013. In gap 15 centuries have been made by India players pic.twitter.com/GvxwBDuP2Z
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) November 9, 2016
Everything is bad. Everything, except Joe Root.
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) November 9, 2016
Not sure who's going to tell Virat Kohli about his slip catching technique, he always goes at 'em with hard hands. Just not right. #INDvENG
— Praveen Koppula (@impkoppula) November 9, 2016
