England nearly produced a dramatic victory on the final day of the first Test, after Alastair Cook’s 30th Test hundred had given the tourists a chance to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
India were thankful for the presence of their captain Virat Kohli (49*), who remained unbeaten, finding support from lower order batsmen Ravichandran Ashwin (32) and Ravindra Jadeja (32*) as they finished on 172-6, ensuring the series remained level.
Joe Root was pleased with the final day efforts of England as he praised the performances of the top order in the second innings.
“We put a real good stint in there. Fair play to India for making it tricky but it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next Test, definitely a lot of guys can take a lot into that,” he said.
“We have to make sure we put the hard work in for the next Test. We're doing some good stuff at the moment. So many chances that could have gone, that could have happened.
“We gave our everything in those 50 overs. That second innings score is not a fair reflection of the wicket, the top order was outstanding."
Resuming on 114-0, Cook and his opening partner Haseeb Hameed were watchful early on as they weighed up how much they would need to ensure they wouldn’t lose the match.
Cook found his stride and began to open up, overtaking his young partner as they both neared three figures, until the debutant Hameed (82) fell to Amit Mishra, who took a sharp return catch to end the promising start made to his test debut.
Root’s (4) stay at the crease was short as he top edged, going for a big shot off Mishra, to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, with England looking to push the score on.
England clearly wanted the impetus to remain, promoting Ben Stokes up the order, before Cook reached his century, the 30th of his career and another in India, a successful destination for the Three Lions skipper.
Both Cook and Stokes opened their shoulders as they neared a comfortable declaration figure, with the decision finally coming when Cook’s superb innings ended going for an uncharacteristic shot straight to long-off, as England declared on 260-3.
That left India chasing 310 for victory on the final afternoon from 49 overs, with the England spinners clearly going to get the majority of the overs as they sensed an opportunity for victory.
That opportunity heightened as England made an early breakthrough when Root pouched at slip off Chris Woakes, sending the nervous Gautam Gambhir packing without troubling the score.
England could ill afford any mistakes as they went in search of victory but a couple of dropped catches seemed to set the tourists back. Adil Rashid finally made the breakthrough as Cheteshwar Pujara (18) was adjudged LBW.
Murali Vijay (31) was next to go when he misjudged the line of the ball offering a simple catch to Hameed at short leg, again off Rashid, before Moeen Ali got in on the act, bowling Ajinkya Rahane (1) as England sniffed victory at 71-4.
Indian captain Kohli needed one of his teammates to stick around with him and he found that help through Ashwin as they took time and overs out of the game.
With the game slipping away, Zafar Ansari gave England hope, luring Ashwin (32) into a false shot, finding Root at short cover. When Saha (9) offered a simple caught and bowled back to Rashid, the tension grew with time and overs running out for England.
However, Kohli and Jadeja saw out the remaining time to ensure the series remained level going into the next Test match at Visakhapatnam, starting on Thursday.
Report by Andy Moore
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