Joe Root and Moeen Ali lead the charge on opening day of first Test against India

Joe Root struck his 11<sup>th Test century on an assured start from England on the opening day of their first Test against India. The visitors lost three quick wickets during the opening session with debutant Haseeb Hameed and captain Alistair Cook dismissed before lunch.

But Root (126) led an impressive fightback alongside Moeen Ali, sharing a stand of 179 as England finished the day 311-4.

The 19-year-old Hameed, who became just the second teenager to play for England in a Test match since 1949, opened alongside Cook and enjoyed a steady introduction on a good batting surface. The visitors struck 47 before their debutant was given lbw off Ravichandran Ashwin's delivery, departing having registered 31 runs from 82 balls.

Both Hameed and Cook survived three early dropped catches in Rajkot but the hosts quickly began making up for those slips before lunch, with Cook (21) departing after he was also caught lbw. Cook opted not to review the decision despite replays suggesting he would have had a decent case with Ravindra Jadeja's delivery seemingly missing leg-stump by some distance.

Ben Duckett (13), dropped to fourth in the England batting order, also departed before the break after being caught by first slip off Ravichandran Ashwin before the visitors once again turned to Root. The Yorkshire batsman racked up a stable 35 before lunch and surged over the half century mark following the break with Moeen alongside him.

Root steadily roared on as the two hit 105 between them, surviving a scare on 92 when Umesh Yadav's inswinger had the hosts screaming for a decision to be thrown their way.

But Root's 93 and Moeen's 48 steered the visitors through a relatively comfortable second session before tea, with the former sealing his 11<sup>th Test century shortly after to push England to 222-3.

Root's dominance was finally halted for 124, although there was confusion as to whether bowler Umesh had cleanly caught the ball to send him walking. Having launched the ball with a celebratory throw into the air, there were suspicions the Indian bowler had dropped it but after a nervous wait, officials ruled the catch was satisfactory.

Ben Stokes entered the fray and hammered a superb six over the ropes to take England over the 300-mark before play finished, with Moeen tantalisingly close to his own 100.