CHENNAI: England continued their march in the fifth and final Test here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as they posted 477, their second highest total this series, even as India were steady in their response on Saturday. The hosts were 60 for no loss at stumps on a strip that showed no signs of mischief. Opener M. Vijay who bruised his shoulder while diving to field a ball on the field couldn’t open the innings and Parthiv Patel (28 not out) took his place. K.L. Rahul who hasn’t scored a fifty in three innings since his comeback from injury looked assured with an unbeaten 30.
Fortunes swung back and forth on a hot and sluggish day as India who started well let England off the hook and took time to polish off the tail. An eighth-wicket stand of 108 — the second century partnership of England’s innings — between Adil Rashid (60) and Liam Dawson (66 not out) spurred the visitors after India had made early inroads on Saturday.
In a surprise move, Virat Kohli tossed the ball which was only 4.4 overs old to R. Ashwin to start the day’s proceedings. And the local favourite, who had gone wicketless on the first day, struck in his very first over by having Ben Stokes caught behind. Ishant Sharma trapped Jose Buttler for five and Umesh Yadav, at the other end, sprayed a few bouncers in a bid to unsettle centurion Moeen Ali who eventually succumbed to the pacer, offering a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja at backward square leg, adding 26 runs to his overnight score of 120.
When England fell from 284/4 to 321/7 in the first session, the mini collapse would have set off alarm bells in the dressing room, serving a stark reminder of their first innings in Mumbai where they failed to capitalise on a solid opening-day performance. But this time England were not ready to let the advantage go. Debutant Dawson and Rashid put England back on track with a crucial partnership that hurt India as it lasted 249 balls and the post-lunch session fetched them 100 runs in 35 overs.
Umesh finally showed the way for culling the England tail by removing Rashid, who edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Parthiv. No.11 batsman Jake Ball fell victim to Amit Mishra’s googly, but not before he and unconquered Dawson had threatened to take England past 500. The duo took on Ashwin for 17 runs including 2 sixes.
SCOREBOARD
England (1st Innings): A. Cook c Kohli b Jadeja 10, K. Jennings c Patel b Sharma 1, J. Root c Patel b Jadeja 88, M. Ali c Jadeja b Umesh Yadav 146, J. Bairstow c Rahul b Jadeja 49, B. Stokes c Patel b Ashwin 6, J. Buttler lbw b Sharma 5, L. Dawson (not out) 66, A. Rashid c Patel b Umesh Yadav 60, S. Broad run out Rahul/Patel 19, J. Ball b Mishra 12. Extras (4b, 5lb, 1w, 5 pen) 15.
Total (all out in 157.2 overs) 477.
FoW: 1-7, 2-21, 3-167, 4-253, 5-287, 6-300, 7-321, 8-429, 9-455, 10-477.
Bowling: Yadav 21-3-73-2, Sharma 21-6-42-2, Jadeja 45-9-106-3, Ashwin 44-3-151-1, Mishra 25.2-5-87-1, Nair 1-0-4-0.
India (1st innings): L. Rahul (batting) 30, P. Patel (not out) 28. Extras (2lb) 2.
Total (for no loss in 20 overs) 60
Bowling: Broad 5-2-6-0, Ball 3-0-9-0, Ali 7-1-18-0, Stokes 2-0-12-0, Rashid 2-0-13-0, Dawson 1-0-1-0.
