Moeen Ali capitalized on an early reprieve to score his fifth Test century and steer England to 284-4 on the opening day of the fifth and final Test against India in Chennai, India, yesterday.
Opting to bat, England slumped to 21-2 before Moeen added 146 with Joe Root to steady the innings and shared a stand of 86 with Jonny Bairstow to keep the tourists on course for a big total at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Ali’s unbeaten 120 was an innings of two halves, the left-hander shedding his early tentativeness to hit 12 fours after being dropped by Lokesh Rahul at midwicket before he had scored.
Photo: Reuters
Ben Stokes was unbeaten on 5 at the close.
With India having taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series, England went into the match seeking to salvage some pride, but that determination did not show in some casual shot-making by the top order.
Paceman Ishant Sharma induced Keaton Jennings into driving a wide delivery and Parthiv Patel collected the edge behind the stumps to dismiss the young opener for 1.
Alastair Cook took two off Umesh Yadav’s first ball to reach 11,000 runs in Tests, but again looked completely at sea against Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin.
The England skipper lunged outside off-stump to edge the ball to Virat Kohli at slip for 10, falling to Jadeja for the fifth time in the series.
Ali looked ill at ease in the morning session, but appeared completely transformed after lunch as he and Root milked India’s three-pronged spin attack, despite the pitch offering considerable turn.
Root brought up his 27th Test half-century and looked like cruising to his century when he fell to Jadeja.
Root attempted a sweep and India appealed for caught behind.
The appeal was turned down, but upheld after a review.
Root shook his head in dismay as he missed his second century of the series, a feat Ali achieved in the final session.
Bairstow hit three sixes in his 49, but missed out on a half-century when he loosely drove Jadeja to Rahul at cover.
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