India vs England, 1st Test, England tour of India, 2021 - CommentaryIND vs ENG, 1st Test, England tour of India, 2021 - Commentary

Vineet: Kohli should try to give the strike to Pant to negate the reverse swing of Anderson. Anderson doesn't seem to be that much effective for left-handers. -- What would you say now?

Shubham: Unbelievable by Anderson!!!! This is just great!!!

Pratham: That's it, all over for India

saketh: "Why indian batsman are not going for sweep shot? I have not seen atleast one batsman going for it against spin" -- Because most of them don't play that shot. It's not part of their game. But that's a fair point. It is a very handy shot in these conditions.

Harsha Bhogle: I know there would have been a lot of discussion around Kohli and Pant and Gill but if you had asked England which was the one wicket they would have wanted in the morning, they would have said Pujara

Dhruv: However well India batted in the last two 4th innings, those pitches had little assistance for bowlers, especially the spinners. Here, you just need to be accurate and the pitch will do the rest. The only way to combat is to be positive, can't just bide our time here.

SUBBAREDDY: How many overs left in today's play? -- 12 overs after this but I don't think we will get them all.

Om: England should bowl at least 15 overs today to put India under pressure. Chasing will be a disaster at Chepauk seeing the turn and un-even bounce.

Sandesh Baviskar: Only 25 overs bowled in second session. India need to keep an eye on over rate too. They cannot afford to lose unnecessary WTC points for nothing. -- Absolutely.

Manish Jain: England are tiring out India mentally here more. Still 120+ overs remaining which I feel are enough to bowl India out.

Ganesh: "Why Kohli is not using Washi!" - I wonder. His leg-side fields are a perfect fit for him, aren't they?

Subhrajyoti: Too many no balls, Bharat Arun will be very busy after this match.

chanducheers: Poor from Kohli..Root was constantly targeting the vacant mid wicket region by sweeping the bowlers. Still Kohli have not placed a fielder..Root scored three boundaries in that region till now using his favourite sweep shot..Kohli should be bit more cautious or else we all know what Root can

Tejas: India should try Washi Sundar as well with the new ball and see if he can get that extra bounce with the hard nut. He is used to opening bowling in the limited overs as well. -- That will be a good option.

Sathish: Spinners bowling no balls is a crime according to me. 7 times in a test match is not at all acceptable. Nadeem should definitely work on it.

ShrivatsRaghav: Nadeem has bowled 7 No balls in this Test. Should they not work in between the Test to fix such issues. -- He did work with Bharath Arun during the lunch break on that.

Pratik Chopra: Discipline is the key. England grabbed their chances in the field, gave little in extras. India were poor in both!

Aditya: Why England did not enforce the follow on? -- England bowled 95.5 overs and it's not easy to bowl another full innings on a pitch that isn't exactly bowler-friendly. If they bowled, the bowlers would be completely drained and there is another Test match after a 3-day gap. Even India wouldn't have enforced considering the workload on the bowlers.

Harsha Bhogle: Excellent partnership. The tail now has to stand alongside Washington Sundar till lunch.

Piyush Raj: @Ganguraju Washi bowled decently with the ball. He was just unlucky to have nothing in the wickets column

Ganguraju: Washi is proving his worth in the team...if not with the ball, he is helping the team with the bat...

Sujit Alagiah: India needs Ashwin and Sundar to find the opening batters in themselves to stay afloat. Ideally follow-on won't be enforced by England, but you never know what Indian lower-order has in stores these days. Exciting session!

Rajendra: If India can avoid follow-on from here then it will be big positive. Need to handle new ball well against Archer and Anderson.

Gyan Prakash: Today is the most important and the most interesting day of the game. We see very less matches of this kind in the modern Test cricket. However, India's fate will be decided by this partnership and obviously, the new ball will play a major role in this.

Preetham: Getting a feeling that current Indian batsmen are more comfortable playing pace than spin when compared to previous generations

Shubham: Just adding the obvious to Mustafa's point that after having the Vibranium, Pujara saying "I could do this all day" to the bowlers might sound even more accurate.

Manohar: England haven't conceded a single extra in this innings. Great discipline.

Mustafa Moudi: The only words that comes to my mind after seeing Pujara getting hurt repeatedly - Get This Man A Shield!! -- Yes, Vibranium should do the job.

Sidh Dhiman: The question is how long can Pant manage to hit these over long-on -- That's what makes his battle with Leach more interesting.

Divyansh: What are the minimum runs that India need to score to avoid follow on? -- 378, still a long way away.

Manish: India should find the balance between attack and defence to not lose the match. The wickets that fell were when the batsman were too attacking or being too defensive.

Stewart: As an Aussie fan, I am enjoying this. But seriously, that series against Australia was a titanic struggle down to the last few overs of the series. I am wondering if India needed a bit more time off to enjoy the series win in Australia, mentally rest then start the next series? -- There still might be some hangover but they are professional cricketers and have to be ready for a series.

Kartik: The pitch is good for batting we know but you still have to bat like a professional international batsman. That's what England did and India need to be more watchful.

Sandesh Baviskar: Not sure why but Indian batters are in a hurry. Run rate hovering around 5 while losing wickets is not going to help while chasing mammoth total.

Harsha Bhogle: You can already see why Jofra Archer, even in such a short career, is seen as among the best in the world. Already we've seen pace, bounce, movement on a deck that everyone else struggled on.

Harsha Bhogle: England's most dangerous bowler has struck early. It was critical that India blunted the new ball.

Varun: One rule clarification:- If a team takes new ball after 82 overs then next new ball can be taken after 160 overs or 162 overs? -- 80 overs from the time the previous new ball was taken. So in India's case 161 as they took the second new ball after 81 overs.

Umang: What's the point in batting unnecessarily and wasting time even when you have already got mountain of runs on the board. Can you please explain? -- England are hoping that the pitch will deteriorate and they don't have to bat again.

Madhan: Have India taken the new ball yet??? -- No.

Sivaram Kumar: We repeatedly hear experts say that the pitch is doing nothing. In fact, the pitch is doing a lot. It is killing the rekindled interest in Test cricket -- It's called Test cricket not just for the players wink

Ajay Tiwari: This is the first time I have seen Indian umpires' decision not being overturned by DRS these many times in a match. Their decision making going great till now. -- Yes, they have been brilliant.

Harsha Bhogle: Will be interesting to see England's approach from here. They need enough time to bowl India out twice. They will need to bat a lot quicker from here. Have to be 560-570 by close. At least.

Karthik: Can India bat today? -- England will definitely give India some overs before end of play today.

Shankhq: Not too many bouncers bowled by the pacers. Wonder what could be the reason!! -- There's not much pace in the wicket and if it is short then the batsmen will have plenty of time to play the pull/hook.

Abhishek K: On pitches like this, brilliance in the field is required and India has lacked that. Fielding has been very poor

Plv Rajshekar: It is quite evident that England's decision to play in Sri Lanka before coming to India was well-timed, and the series win there has given them additional confidence. No doubt this series will be a close contest!

Vir: "How long would England prefer to bat? Considering a flat wicket will help India too and taking too much time would inch closer to a draw" -- Joe Root said yesterday he wanted England to go big in the first innings. Wanted a score of around 600-700. So quite long I'd say.

Anup: "Is the pitch so flat? or English batmen playing so well? or Indian bowlers are not upto the mark? what is the reason behind this situation??" -- It's pretty flat. And the England batsmen have applied themselves well.

Naveen: This is what England needed at the start of this tour.. They will easily get around 450-500 and that makes a strong case for not losing this match atleast.

Samyak Jain: The Indian spinners have not found the length to bowl on this pitch yet. Sundar keeps bowling too full and Nadeem half trackers.

Taha Haidery: Rooo100oooooot!! His conversion rate in the last three matches condensates for his entire career conversion rate.

Rishi: This has been a fantastic batting by these two Englishmen, Indians have been completely out of the game. Now India have to come up with plan tomorrow and make a fresh start. -- There are still 12 overs to make an impact today.

Harsha Bhogle: Shahbaz Nadeem has to up his game soon. Can't keep conceding runs off the back foot.

Ranjan: This combination shows that the original choice was Axar, Ashwin and Kuldeep. Since Axar got injured, Washi was considered. VK thought Nadeem will do a Lasith (SL) but to me the best spinner should have been played. No doubt Kuldeep is better than Nadeem anyday.

Anmol Singh: It all comes down to who loses their patience first. Has been a fighting session from both the teams. That's why we love Test cricket.

Dhruba: India will slowly start to feel the pressure, if they can't get rid of either of them before tea.

Nikhil Pisharody: The footwork of Sibley has been outstanding. He has played either fully off the back foot or got a big stride forward for the full deliveries. Nothing in between!!

Bharath: Jadeja's absence is felt especially in this kind of surface. He can bowl attacking and consistent lengths.

Sri Harsha: Dom Sibley has been very impressive playing his first innings in India. Playing with lot of control. Hardly gave any chances for the bowlers. Definitely deserves a big score.

Sarthak: Joe Root is looking confident and the main reason would be his wonderful performance with the bat in subcontinent conditions in recent Sri Lanka tour. It will be interesting to see how Indian bowlers bowl against him in this series.

Chaitu: Why Indians attacking pads? Should bowl more outside off to Root. He can play whole day if we feed him on pads. Need to change the strategy to Root! -- The ball is reversing and hence they're attacking the stumps.

Prakash: India have done really well so far considering the surface. Have to maintain the same discipline in this session and make England work hard for the runs.

Utkarsh: Gravity, conditions, over-enthusiasm, inaccurate measurements of crease. My mind has been pondering over the reason behind so many sudden no balls in this match. -- It is about the third umpire keeping an eye on the front foot.

Neha: I cannot believe why people are picking on the pitch, it's a Day 1 pitch supposed to be good for batting. Ball is reversing and I am sure it will be a good contest between bat and ball.

AK: @Vaibhav. The more the wicket suits the batsmen early on, the more it is likely to deteriorate as far as Indian tracks are concerned. England have won a good toss. Let us wait until day 3 to see what happens. India have a challenge on their hands

Vaibhav: I wonder why our pitch curators just fail to give an even contest for the bat and ball. Why can't we have pitches which have something in them for both batsmen and the bowlers. For now as we have seen thus far today it's all skewed in favor of the batsmen. There is literally nothing for the bowlers. -- Let's hope that it deteriorates as the match progresses.

ShrivatsRaghav: Pitch looks like a batting beauty. Nothing going on for bowlers.. Restricting the Englishmen within 400 would be a credible effort from our bowlers.

Jasmeet Singh: The English look determined today after a brilliant performance in Sri Lanka and seem to be more accustomed to the subcontinental environment than usual.

Matthew: Looks like India is in for a long day !!! No movement, No spin and English players are handling Indian attack beautifully.

Saahil: "Throughout the series, India should also take care of the over rates. Can't afford to lose any WTC points because of slow over rates!" -- That shouldn't be a factor with three spinners in the team

DIPEN: Guess Ashwin has to provide the breakthrough with pitch not offering much for the pacers

Sudhanshu: @Sarthak Don't be so quick to criticize. That was a really tough chance man!

Sarthak: Ahh man!!!! Barely 7 balls bowled and Rishabh back to dropping catches again

Aditya Gupta: Kuldeep not picked again. If he is not able to find a spot in a test IN INDIA (even ahead of players with 1 test), I don't see him playing test again for long time. Must be heartbreaking for him.

Gopal: Gotta feel bad for Kuldeep here. Not sure if Shahbaz should have been preferred over Kuldeep!

Commentary not available for this match