The end of Day 1 of the fourth Test match pretty much ended on a neutral point. After winning the toss and electing to bat first England ended the Day 1 of the fourth Test match at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi on 302/7. The end scoreline won’t depict the entire story as at one stage England were 112/5 courtesy of some terrific disciplined wicket-to-wicket bowling from the India bowlers.
Earlier on the day after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, the England team had a steadied start with both their openers looking precise in their shot-making. As so often, the Indian team have done in the series whenever there is a partnership, some or the other bowlers come up with a brilliant spell of bowling. This time around it was the debutant Akash Deep who rattled the English order with a triple strike in his first spell. The right-hand speedster dismissed Ben Duckett (11), Ollie Pope (0), and Zak Crawley in back-to-back overs.
At one stage the England batting looked in trouble but then it was Jonny Bairstow (38) and Joe Root who tried to steady the ship. They made sure that England negotiated the fiery spell from Deep and scored runs. But as they stitched 52 runs, it was Ravichandran Ashwin who struck again against the run of play and dismissed threatening-looking Bairstow. Soon after that the skipper Ben Stokes (3) also fell to the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.
Joe Root’s 31st Test ton helped England end Day 1 at 302/7
After Ben Stokes’ wicket, the visitors were reeling at 112/5 but then it was the partnership of wicketkeeper batter Ben Foakes (47) and Root. Both the batters looked precise in their footwork and also at the same time scored runs easily against formidable Indian spinners. Once again against the run of play, Foakes was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj who again struck removing Tom Hartley (13) out bowled.
But with so many wickets falling around him, the legendary England batter held up one end and scored a brilliant century. This was his 31st Test century and also his first in the ongoing series. The talismanic batter remained not out by the end of Day 1 at 106 runs off 226 deliveries. Along with him, Ollie Robinson has also scored a fighting knock of 31 runs. Both have stitched together a partnership of 57 runs for the eighth wicket. Let us look at how Twitter has reacted to Day 1 of fourth Test;
Terrible captaincy by Rohit Sharma
— ????????!??_?? (@bholination) February 23, 2024
England have recovered well by Root century ?
— CricNation.TV (@CricNation_TV) February 23, 2024
Even after DRS fixing England on top yessss ?????
— ALI (@alifatani) February 23, 2024
Rohit Sharma messed up the captaincy
— Apuroop Achanta (@digitaldetox_9) February 23, 2024
Tomorrow is a big day for india
— Saif Satti (@SaifArRehman) February 23, 2024
Root is made for Indian and made by India.?? great innings under pressure.
— Quotesforbetterliving (@Quotes4better_) February 23, 2024
England recovered well
— Saif Satti (@SaifArRehman) February 23, 2024
Joe Roots? Played Very Good Knock…
Seems Good Command on Game ? By England??????? Team Till Now
— Ajay Gautam (@gautam_ajay007) February 23, 2024
