Leading the side from the front, Joe Root completed his fifth double century in the ongoing Test between India and England in Chennai. Root reached the feat in some style, as he whacked R Ashwin over the long-on fence, making him the first-ever player to complete a double-century in his 100th Test appearance.
The right-handed batsman, who has said that England are looking for a gigantic first-inning total, is currently batting on 209, helping his side reach 454/7 at Tea on Day 2 of the opening match.
Ollie Pope, who recently regained complete fitness after sustaining a shoulder injury, is playing at the other end with Root. The 23-year-old is playing on 24.
The first cricketer ever to score a double century in his 100th Test match!
Scorecard: https://t.co/dS83GpOl0T#INDvENG #R100T pic.twitter.com/B0m2gGNpc3
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 6, 2021
Meanwhile, Root's incredible feat also saw him becoming the English captain with the highest individual score in India. In all the India-England Tests, the only English captain to score more is Graham Gooch (333 at Lord's, 1990).
Earlier in the day, Root came on level terms with his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli in the list of active cricketers with most number of 150-plus scores in Test cricket. Both Kohli and Root share the top honours with ten 150-plus scores under their name.
Root, who scored a double hundred and a big century in his previous two tests in Sri Lanka, also became the seventh batsmen to slam three consecutive 150-plus scores in three matches.
Meanwhile, the visitors added 99 runs in the session between lunch and tea and lost one wicket. The captain's 124-run partnership for the fourth wicket wih Stokes (82; 10 fours, 3 sixes) meant England continued their dominance. Pope, who came after Stokes' wicket, overcame an early period of uncertainty to stitch together a half-century stand with Root.
Stokes fell when in sight of a ton, holing out after going for a slog sweep to give Shahbaz Nadeem his first wicket, some reward for his toil as Cheteshwar Pujara took a catch in the deep after an awkward juggle.
For India, the experienced trio of Ishant Sharma (0/42), Jasprit Bumrah (2/66) and Ashwin (1/114 from 41 overs) stuck to their task but could not find any success. Nadeem (1/140), though he broke the Root-Stokes partnership, and Washington Sundar (0/65) could not make any impact and proved to be expensive.
What happened in the first session of Day 2?
Resuming from the overnight score of 263/3, the English skipper maintained his confident approach against the Indian attack, which could only manage a couple of half-hearted lbw appeals against him.
Meanwhile, Stokes sought to impose himself on India's tired-looking attack and gave an early indication of his mindset by hitting off-spinner R Ashwin over his head for a six. He also frequently opted for the sweep shot to negate whatever turn the pitch offered.
