Jack Leach picked four while James Anderson scalped three wickets as England defeated India by 227 runs in the first Test here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.
It was a perfect day for England despite India skipper Virat Kohli showing resilience in the second innings. The England bowlers dominated the hosts right from the start of the final day. Shubman Gill showed a glimmer of hope but that was short-lived as James Anderson dismantled top order dismissing Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant.
With this win, England has taken a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series. If Dom Bess stole the show for England in the first innings, it was Jack Leach and Anderson’s combined performance that hogged the limelight for the visitors in the second essay. The win over India in the first Test has also propelled England to the top of the ICC World Test Championship standings.
In the second session, Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin stitched an important 54-run stand before Leach broke the partnership as England required just three wickets to go 1-0 up in the series.
Kohli registered his 24th half-century but Ben Stokes cleaned up the Indian skipper to leave hosts with no hope in the match. In the next over, Leach dismissed Shahbaz Nadeem to take his fourth wicket of the innings as India was reduced to 179/9.
In the end, it was just a formality as Jofra Archer dismissed Jaspirt Bumrah to give England a win in the first Test.
In the first session, India did not get off to a good start while resuming day five at 39/1, as Jack Leach continued from where he left off the other night. Leach sent back Cheteshwar Pujara (15) in just the seventh over of the final day.
India skipper Kohli then joined Gill in the middle and the hopes of scrapping away with a draw relied heavily on these two batters. Gill took a special liking towards off-spinner Dominic Bess and this saw the right-handed batter bring up his third half-century in Test cricket.
England skipper Joe Root then introduced Anderson into the attack, and the veteran did not disappoint as he produced a Jaffa to rattle the stumps of Gill (50). In the very same over, Anderson castled the stumps of Rahane (0), leaving India reeling at 92/4.
Rishabh Pant who played a knock of 91 in the first innings, failed to leave a mark in the second innings as he was dismissed by Anderson. Pant just managed to score 11 in the second innings. Soon after, Washington Sundar (0) was sent back to the pavilion by Dominic Bess, and this reduced India to 117/6.
India then went to lunch at 144/6 as the first session saw 105 runs being scored in 26 overs.
On day four, England was bowled out for 178 in the second innings and as a result, India was set a target of 420 to win. In the dying minutes on day four of the ongoing first, Leach clean bowled Rohit Sharma and the hosts were given a major blow.
Brief Scores: England 578 and 178; India 337 and 192/10 (Shubman Gill 50, Virat Kohli 72, Jack Leach 4-72).
