MUMBAI: Alastair Cook had been heard regretting the fact that his team didn’t “bat big” in the first innings, in the previous two Tests that England lost. “It’s a must when you play in India,” he had said and cited Rajkot as example, where they put the hosts under pressure.
Thanks to a century on debut from Keaton Jennings and the partnerships he shared with Cook and Moeen Ali, England looked on course for setting that record straight, until losing the plot somewhat in the last session. From 196/2 at tea, 288/5 at stumps was not what a team trailing 0-2 in the series was looking at.
If Ravichandran Ashwin was once again the catalyst, some adventurous batting also played a part. After Cook in the morning session, Moeen and Jonny Bairstow fell attempting forcing shots. With the pitch looking good for batting barring the odd one that turned, a moderate first-innings total might damage England’s hopes of coming back in the series.
Before the slide, the day belonged to Jennings, who joined a growing list of England openers to have done well on Test debut in India. Cook had made 60 and 104 not out in Nagpur in 2006 and Haseeb Hameed 31 and 82 in Rajkot in the first match of this series. Jennings did better by reaching three figures in his first innings. The hundred came off a reverse sweep and his 219-ball 112 contained 13 fours.
Son of former South Africa coach Ray Jennings, the left-hander had captained the U-19 team of the country of his birth before choosing to play for England. The Durham opener was cautious initially, but opened up later to play forcing shots on both sides. Untroubled by spinners, he was unafraid to go over the top against them.
England’s position could have been stronger had a number of batsmen not attempted extravagant shots. Tied down by Ravindra Jadeja in previous matches, Cook perhaps wanted to attack him and came down the wicket to heave him towards mid-wicket in his very first over. He made no connection, to be stumped for a 60-ball 46 that contained five fours. The opening stand was worth 99.
India got just one more wicket between lunch and tea. It was the big one of Joe Root, who tried to drive Ravichandran Ashwin and the edge was caught well by Virat Kohli at first slip. Moeen in the company of Jennings denied India further inroads in that session and went on to add 94 for the third wicket.
India came back when Moeen tried to sweep Ashwin from outside off stump and top-edged the ball to square-leg. His 104-ball 50 had a six and four fours. Jennings was back after two balls, with Ashwin taking the outside edge. The highest Test run-scorer of 2016, Bairstow fell playing the sweep. Although the shot was well connected, he could not keep it down.
Although 288/5 is a decent score, the third session will make the Indians believe that they too had a good day after two sessions of toil.
Brief scores: England 288/5 in 94 ovs (Jennings 112, Moeen 50, Cook 46, Ashwin 4/75). Stumps, Day 1.