Rajkot: India captain Virat Kohli (49 n o, 98b, 6×4) remained unbeaten with a defiant knock in a tense final session to deny England victory and claim a draw in the opening Test of the five-match series Sunday. Chasing a target of 310, the hosts reached 172 for six when the captains shook hands for the match to end in a draw.
Earlier, England captain Alastair Cook (130, 243b, 13×4) notched up his 30th Test hundred and declared his team’s second innings on 260 for three in the second session, to set India an improbable target of 310.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-64), who picked up four wickets in the first innings, took another three as the hosts were reduced to 71 for four shortly after tea.
Kohli then frustrated the touring side with a fifth-wicket stand of 47 with Ravichandran Ashwin (32, 53b, 6×4). The pair batted out over 15 overs to take India closer to the draw before Ashwin drove left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari (1-41) straight to Joe Root in the covers. Wriddhiman Saha (9) did not last long as India were reduced to 132 for six with enough overs still left in the match for England to force a win.
But Kohli added another crucial unbeaten stand of 40 in 10 overs for the seventh wicket with local boy Ravindra Jadeja (32 n o, 33b, 6×4) to deny the tourists a match lead.
The result, however, could have swung in England’s favour had they managed to hold on to their catches. Vijay (31, 71b, 6×4), first innings century-maker, was dropped on 13 by Ansari, who failed to hold on to a powerful return catch. Ansari was the unlucky bowler again in his next over when Stuart Broad dropped a much easier catch from first-innings centurion Cheteshwar Pujara (18, 36b, 2×4) at point with the batsman on 10.
Earlier, resuming on his overnight score of 46, Cook looked unperturbed against a descent-looking Indian bowling attack. The left-hander brought up his sixth hundred against India, with five of them having come while touring the country.
Mishra (2-60) broke England’s best opening stand in India with his third ball of the day when the 19-year-old Haseeb Hammed (82, 177b, 7×4, 1×6) hit a flighted delivery straight back to the spinner. Mishra also picked up Root (4) in his next over of the morning.
England promoted the hard-hitting Ben Stokes (29 n o, 29b, 5×4) up the order to score quick runs and the left-hander added 68 runs with Cook for the third wicket.
Skipper slams fielding
India captain Virat Kohli feels the performance in the drawn opening Test against England has prepared his team for tougher battles ahead though he expected a much better fielding effort from his side.
“Good opportunity to find out new things about your game. Couldn’t get a better chance to practice other aspects of your game (towards the end). It is important to play against momentum sometimes, it helps you become a better team,” said Kohli at the post match presentation.
He further said, “It is important to convince yourself you can negotiate what’s thrown at you. We could have been much better on days one and two. We dropped five catches and that makes a huge difference in Test cricket.
“England are a side we are not going to take for granted. Good to get things done in the end. Need to correct the things we need to. As I said, England are a quality side and their bowlers put constant pressure. We need to accept what happened,” he added.
Rival captain Alastair Cook said, it was satisfying to put India under pressure right from the first game of the five-match series. “It was really tough five days, good toss to win. In India if you score 530, you are always in the game. It was a good cricket wicket. We were relentless with the ball. We didn’t let India score too quickly. To keep them to 480, we did well,” said Cook.
He was also all praise for his 19-year-old opening partner Haseeb Hameed, who scored a half-century on debut. “The way Has (Hameed) played was brilliant. He looked the real deal. We certainly found a batsman there.”
Agencies
