India Vs England

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Sibley on 87 off the last ball of the day to help India end it on a positive note for themselves. However, Sibley and Root's partnership, coupled with a 63-run opening stand between the former and Rory Burns helped England take the upper hand on the first day of the Test.

After a delivery in the 70th over by all-rounder Washington Sundar, which was defended by England batsman Sibley, Pant in a loud voice was heard saying “Mera naam hai Washington, mereko jaana hai DC.” This translates to ‘My name is Washington, I want to go to DC.’

Root brought up his 20th century off 164 balls, with the help of 12 boundaries. This was his third century in as many Tests, with earlier two coming in Sri Lanka in the previous series that England won 2-0, just before the team reached India for this series. Root also became only the third cricketer to play both his first and 100th Test match in the same country he was touring.

Both the batsman showed immense patience during the course of the session, playing each ball on its merit and collecting boundaries whenever the Indian bowlers erred on their lines and lengths. The visitors collected 73 runs in the second session and look on course for a big first-innings total.

Lawrence, who came into bat after opener Rory Burns' dismissal, went back to the dressing room without troubling the scorers as he got out lbw against Bumrah. Before the ongoing first Test, Bumrah, 27, had played 17 Tests, all overseas, in which he had picked 79 wickets. Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat, Burns and Sibley provided England with a solid start as they brilliantly tackled the two Indian pacers -- Ishant Sharma and Bumrah.

Before the start of the first Test where England opted to bat, Root had scored 8,249 runs in 99 Test matches, including 19 hundred and 49 half-centuries. He is the fourth-highest Test scorer for England, only behind Alastair Cook (12,472 runs), Graham Gooch (8,900 runs) and Alec Stewart (8,463 runs).

The 100-year-old British army veteran, who raised millions of pounds to help Britain's health service in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic last year, passed away with coronavirus. Joe Root's men wore black armbands when the teams stood for their respective national anthems before the visitors came out to bat.

While Sharma had cemented him place in the opening slot back in the home Tests in 2019, Gill made his debut in Australia on the recent tour and impressed with his strokeplay, and notching scores of 50, 31, 7 and 91. The two added 70 and 71 in the third Test in Sydney. They, however, failed to score big in the two innings of the second Test.

For India, left-arm spinner Axar Patel has been ruled out of the Test. Axar complained of pain in his left knee during Team India's optional training session on Thursday, BCCI earlier informed in a statement. India are going on with three spinners -- Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar -- while Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah will lead the pace attack.