England rang the changes for the second Test in Chennai, but the only rotation Joe Root had no control over was that of the coin. When he called incorrectly at the toss, and Virat Kohli unsurprisingly opted to bat first, there will have been concerns about what was to follow.
Three sessions later, India looked the side in control of the game’s destiny despite England, 1-0 up in the series, claiming three wickets after tea.
Rohit Sharma had whipped the 12,000 returning spectators into a frenzy with a sizzling 161 which, along with a precious 67 from vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, left the hosts on 300 for six by the close of play.
On paper that score was only slightly more progress than England’s 263 for three at the end of day one in the first Test and for the loss of three additional batsmen. Yet on this new pitch at the Chepauk Stadium, one where balls burst through the black top-soil from the outset and offered the spinners spiteful bounce, the value of India’s runs felt far greater.
This was not boots being filled on a road, rather a quite brilliant display of batting from Sharma and Rahane in conditions that could easily have had them fear a bullet with their name on it. The former will hog the spotlight after 18 fours and two sixes, not least since India were 147 for three when he brought up his century after lunch, but Rahane’s diligent support was vital in a potentially decisive fourth-wicket stand of 162 in 51.4 overs.
“Control the rate, control the game,” has been a mantra of England’s head coach, Chris Silverwood, but India rattled along all day. There were fresh legs in the bowling attack too, as Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and Olly Stone stepped up. But with Ben Stokes sending down two overs, and Root eight that included the wicket of Ravichandran Ashwin, they appear to be a spinner light, not least when looking across at their hosts.
If Jack Leach was the pick with two for 78 from 26 overs, then Stone ran him close in his second Test. The Warwickshire quick removed Shubman Gill with his third ball of the day – lbw shouldering arms to one that swung back in – and hit top speeds of 93mph in 15 mean overs to ensure the absence of Jofra Archer to an elbow injury was not a glaring one.
The reverse swing achieved during the first Test was less prevalent this time, however. Broad, in for the rested Jimmy Anderson, sent down 11 overs without threatening, while Moeen’s return to the side in place of Dom Bess produced expensive figures of two for 112 from 26. There was rustiness at play as regards the run-rate, understandable after 18 months out of red-ball cricket, but Sharma’s footwork and powerful use of the sweep also threw him off.
That said, Moeen’s removal of Kohli for a fifth-ball duck was a true collector’s item. Leach had just teased an edge to slip of Cheteshwar Pujara for 21 – a smart bit of bowling as the No 3 tried to push into the vacant point region – prompting the spectators to produce that typically Indian phenomenon of cheering in anticipation for the next man in.
But moments later Moeen hit the mute button, a lovely drifting delivery tempting Kohli to swipe away from his body only for the ball to spin sharply out of the already visible footmarks and into his stumps. India’s captain wore a look of disbelief, refusing to budge until the umpires confirmed via the replays the ball, not the gloves of the recalled Ben Foakes, had knocked off the bails. This was Kohli’s 11th duck in Tests but his first to a spin bowler.
Sharma was playing on a different surface to everyone else, however, and went into lunch unbeaten on 80 from only 78 balls, with the hosts 106 for three, in a quite superb display of aggressive batsmanship that simply refused to allow England’s bowlers to settle and had fielders chasing leather.
After this breakneck start to proceedings the afternoon went wicketless as Sharma and Rahane held firm for 83 runs, the latter happy to soak up the pressure at his end while his partner ploughed on to his seventh Test century in 130 balls.
There were some nerves on 98 as Broad tried to prey on the looming milestone but otherwise it was chanceless.
The evening session repeated the chaos of the morning, India adding 112 to their score of 188 for three at tea and losing three more batsmen. England also had two decisions from the third umpire go against them, both of which left them feeling somewhat aggrieved, even if neither proved costly.
Sharma had just ploughed to his 150 when a ball from Leach fizzed past his outside edge. Foakes, back behind the stumps with Jos Buttler resting, whipped off the bails and appealed for the stumping only for the third umpire, Anil Chaudhary, to decide there was a scintilla of boot behind the line; it was not obvious.
Rohit did not last much longer, holing out in the deep off Leach, but England’s feelings of injustice returned when they believed they had Rahane caught at short-leg on 66 from a ball that hit the pad and then glove on its way through. Given not out on the field, the review was struck down by Chaudhary before the secondary contact was checked.
England did at least have this review restored once the error was confirmed and ended their day feeling brighter about their work when Moeen bowled Rahane on the sweep in next over and Root teased an edge off Ashwin to Ollie Pope at short-leg.
But with Rishabh Pant crashing five fours and one six in an unbeaten 33 and India having drafted in two new spinners in Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, the tourists already know they have a job on their hands when it is their turn to bat.
