Rohit Sharma’s 161 runs on the opening day of the second test puts India on top.

India opener Rohit (161 from 231 balls) scored a seventh Test century, hitting 18 fours and two sixes, and shared a fourth-wicket stand of 162 with Ajinkya Rahane (67).

India – who lost the first Test at the same venue by 227 runs – rallied from 0-1 and 86-3 in front of 15,000 fans at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium and displayed some sparkling stroke play to help the hosts to 300-6 on an absorbing, entertaining and occasionally bizarre day in Chennai.

After a magnificent victory in the first Test, England lost the toss and are in line to bat last on a dusty pitch already showing sharp turn and some uneven bounce.

Sharma and Rahane fell in the final session, shortly after both batsmen benefited from controversial decisions from third umpire Anil Chaudhary.

Sharma, on 159 at the time, was adjudged to have had a part of his foot behind the line when Ben Foakes whipped off the bails following a delivery from left-arm spinner Jack Leach (2-78), but Leach had his man two overs later, caught by Moeen Ali at deep square leg on the sweep.

Rahane, meanwhile, survived on 66 when Chaudhary failed to detect he had clipped Leach to Ollie Pope at short leg after the ball had first hit his pad meaning England lost a review before it eventually got overturned.

Rahane was dismissed one run later when the recalled Moeen (2-112) – who had earlier cleaned up Virat Kohli through the gate for a duck – bowled him on the sweep, while Joe Root (1-15) had Ravichandran Ashwin (13) caught at short leg by Pope before stumps.

Moeen Ali dismissed Virat Kohli and Rahane on his Test return but struggled for consistency Photo Credit – BCCI

Sharma’s hundred, Rahane’s fifty and a cameo from Rishabh Pant steered India into a decent position on a pitch which is already showing signs of breaking up following six days of cricket at the stadium.

England were comprehensive winners of the first Test but headed into the second game with four changes to the squad from the first test with James Anderson rested despite his starring role with the ball on the final day of the series opener.

Stuart Broad replaced Anderson in the squad, Foakes came in as wicketkeeper with Jos Buttler rotated out for the final three Tests of the series, Olly Stone is in his first test match since July 2019 was the brought in to replace the injured Jofra Archer and Moeen Ali returns to the test side for the first time since the 2019 Ashes series replacing stand out star bowler from the last test Dom Bess.

Stone and Moeen struck at either end of the opening session after Kohli elected to bat – Stone removing Shubman Gill for lbw in the second over and Moeen castling a stunned Kohli 15 minutes before the lunch interval.

Rohit attacked after seeing opening partner Gill fall leaving an in-jagger – the 33-year-old racing to a 47-ball half-century and scoring 80 from 78 balls as India headed in for the break on 106-3.

Kohli was bowled through the gate by Moeen before lunch on day one in Chennai. Photo Credit: BCCI

England would have been pretty happy at lunch, though, with Cheteshwar Pujara having steered Leach to Ben Stokes in the cordon after contributing to an 85-run stand with Rohit and Kohli cleaned up by Moeen after failing to connect with a loose drive.

Kohli finally trudged off, having either initially thought Foakes’ gloves may have removed the bails or just been completely dumbfounded that he had been knocked over fifth ball without scoring. Before returning to the field after the decision was overturned.

Root’s men went wicketless in the afternoon, however, in a session in which Rohit completed a 130-ball hundred, having almost spooned Moeen to the man in the leg-side during a nervous spell in the late nineties.

Rohit found a fine ally in Rahane, who bounced back from scores of one and nought in the first Test, as Moeen struggled to match Leach’s consistency and England’s seamers were unable to find the sort of reverse swing so expertly displayed by Anderson on day five of the first Test.

Stone still impressed on his return to the side, though, bowling briskly – including cracking Pujara on the hand in the opening session and Pant on the arm in the final over – and did beat the bat on a few occasions en route to figures of 1-42 from 15 overs.

Rohit was the man of the day, however, leading India’s charge as they made a strong start in their bid to bounce back from their thumping defeat in the series opener, which was their first Test loss at home since Australia trounced them by 33 runs in Pune in 2017.

India also changed the team for the second test resting key paceman Jasprit Bumrah. Mohammed Siraj, who picked up 13 wickets in three Tests during the recent 2-1 series win in Australia, came in for his first Test match on home soil. Left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav also came in – the former for his Test debut having exclusively played white-ball cricket for his country before now – with Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem the other players to make way for the home side.

Siraj, Axar and Kuldeep will get their chance with the ball at some stage – but India will hope that is not for some time and that Pant and Axar can help guide the team past 350 runs to take complete control of the match.

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