Ranchi Test, Day 1 Tea: Root-Foakes’ partnership brings England back on track against India

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], February 23 (ANI): Joe Root and Ben Foakes’ partnership brought England back on track in the second session on day one of the fourth Test match against England at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Friday.

At tea, England stood at 198/5 with Joe Root (67* runs from 154 balls) and Ben Foakes (28* runs from 108 balls) on the crease.

In the second session, England scored 86 runs. Meanwhile, the Indian bowling failed to scalp a single wicket after a dominating start in the game.

This is the first time England have gone wicketless in an entire session in the ongoing five-match Test series against India. In the last 10 overs, England have scored 20 runs. On the other hand, India tried to find a wicket but failed.

The last wicket of the game came in the first session when Ravindra Jadeja dismissed English skipper Ben Stokes for just three runs when the visitors were at 112/5 in the 25th over.

Foakes have slammed 2 fours. While Root smashed 7 fours and not a single overhead boundary.

In the 40th over, England reached the 150-run mark after facing 242 balls.

In the final session of the day, if Root and Foakes continue to build the partnership and India fails to bag any early wickets, it will be tough for the hosts to dominate the fourth Test match in Ranchi.

Earlier in the first session, England stood at 112/5 with Joe Root (16* runs from 41 balls) on the crease.

Zak Crawley (42 runs from 42 balls) and Ben Duckett (11 runs from 21 balls) opened for England and could make only a 47-run partnership. Debutant Akash Deep made the first breakthrough of the game after he dismissed Duckett for 11 runs in the 10th over. The left-handed English batter could only smash just 1 four after playing 21 balls. Ollie Pope replaced Duckett on the crease.

Deep was on fire and did not give any time to Pope to settle as he dismissed the star English batter for a two-ball duck in the 10th over itself.

The debutant’s third wicket of the session came after he removed Crawley in the 12th over for 42 runs. The English opener smashed 6 fours and 1 six after facing 42 balls.

Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his 100 Test wickets against England after he removed Jonny Bairstow in the 22nd over for 38 runs. Bairstow smashed 4 fours and 1 six during his short time on the crease.

The final dismissal of the first session came after Ravindra Jadeja dismissed English skipper Ben Stokes for 3 runs from 6 balls in the 25th over. In the first session, India picked up five wickets and England put 112 runs on the scoreboard.

Brief score: England 198/5 (Zak Crawley 42, Jonny Bairstow 38, Joe Root 67*; Akash Deep 3/47) vs India.