England vs India 2018, 1st Test, Day 1 - Statistical Highlights

India bounced back in the third session at Edgbaston to reduce England to 285 for nine after they got a brilliant start on the first two sessions riding on their skipper Joe Root.

India rode on its premier off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin to crawl back into the game. He returned with four for 60 to send almost half of the batters back into the hut. Ashwin removed Alastair Cook to with an unplayable delivery dragging him to reach the ball.

He also removed Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who looked in good touch and were settling in. Mohammed Shami also chipped in with two wickets, as he looked in good rhythm.

This will be a huge boost for the Indian side on this long tour. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav also chipped in with one wicket each.

However, England got off to a good start and dominated the morning session. Despite Cook getting out, skipper Joe Root and Keaton Jennings steadied the English innings. They added 72 runs for the second wicket before Jenning departed unluckily. Dawid Malan followed shortly after, but since then, Jonny Bairstow and Root looked in absolute control of the proceedings.

They played according to the merit of the delivery cashing in on the loose ones. In the process, Joe Root brought his half-century, his 12th consecutive fifties against India in Tests.

When he looked well in line for another hundred, Virat Kohli’s stole the wicket with a moment of brilliance. He departed scoring 80 runs with Bairstow (70) following his skipper seven runs later.

Statistical Highlights

• Ashwin has dismissed Ben Stokes five times in Test cricket. It is the most any bowler has dismissed the English all-rounder.

• Ravichandran Ashwin’s figure of 4/60 is the fourth best for an India spinner on the first day of a Test match outside Asia. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar has the best number of 6/94 against New Zealand in 1976.

• Joe Root now has 12 successive half-centuries against India, the most by a batsman against any a team.

• The English skipper is the third youngest cricketer to reach to 6000 Test runs. He achieved this feat in 27 years and 214 days. Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart reaching to 6000 Test runs in 26 years 313 days.

• Joe Root has taken the least number of days from his debut to reach to 6000 Test runs. He took 2058 days while Alastair Cook is the closest to him with 2168 days.

• Root also finds himself on the third spot on the list of innings taken to reach 6000 Test runs among English batsmen. He took 127 innings while Wally Hammond, who tops the chart, took 114 innings.