Joe Root hits century in 100th Test: India v England, first Test, day one – live!

7.35am EST 07:35

Ali Martin’s report after day one of the first Test in Chennai:

6.54am EST 06:54

Joe Root is giving an interview, yet again. “Lovely night out with the lads last night,” he says, “Ben [Stokes] said some nice words.” Asked about the pitch, he says “it played a lot better than it looked, quite an ugly one. Bounce, a little bit of reverse, really good Indian attack, so it’s important that we make the best of it tomorrow.” That may depend on Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, and whether they can stay in while scraping off the rust.

Root is the third Englishman ever to make a hundred in his hundredth Test, joining Colin Cowdrey and Alec Stewart. Cowdrey did it at the age of 35, Stewart at 37. Root has only just turned 30. He is playing some lovely tunes and has entered what Smash Hits magazine would have called “his imperial phase”. It will be fascinating to see if he can keep it up. Thanks for your company, sorry not to get through all the emails, and we’ll see you tomorrow for the next episode of The Root Show.

Updated at 6.57am EST

6.44am EST 06:44

After all that, you’re probably expecting a match report. And here it is. Warning: it contains the words “wonderful” and “masterful” in the same sentence. And fair enough: Root, on this tour, is making his way through the thesaurus.

6.37am EST 06:37

The day has belonged to Joe Root, and to Channel 4, who will surely have racked up some handy ratings. And there’s a lot more to come on the telly, as Paul MacInnes reports.

Updated at 6.37am EST

6.32am EST 06:32

Close: England 263-3 (Root 128 not out)

And that is that. So the day ends on a sorrowful note for England, but let’s not allow it to take anything away from Joe Root, who has been superhuman on this tour. When he made 228 and 186 in Sri Lanka, it was ravenous batting against a middling attack. Today, he added another 128, in his hundredth Test, against Bumrah, Ashwin and Ishant. After spending the whole week talking the talk, he has walked the walk. And on terrestrial TV too. “An absolutely brilliant innings,” says Alastair Cook.

6.27am EST 06:27

Wicket!! Sibley LBW b Bumrah 87 (England 263-3)

Yes, slamming into leg stump. A great delivery, and a sad moment for Sibley, but he did so well. He gave his all, faced 286 balls, and played his part in a partnership of exactly 200.

Updated at 6.34am EST

6.25am EST 06:25

Wicket!? Sibley given LBW b Bumrah 87 (England 263-3)

A superb yorker! This looks out, and is given, but they’re reviewing – might as well…

Updated at 6.26am EST

6.24am EST 06:24

89th over: England 263-2 (Sibley 87, Root 128) A single to each batsman off Ashwin, and that’s the 200 partnership off 62.4 overs. It’s been slow, then quick, then measured. And magnificent.

6.20am EST 06:20

88th over: England 261-2 (Sibley 86, Root 127) Bumrah was just changing ends. He gets some lovely lift outside off, but Sibley was never planning to play a shot. He just wants to bat through the day: that hundred can wait.

6.16am EST 06:16

87th over: England 261-2 (Sibley 86, Root 127) Bumrah, despite beating Root twice in two balls, is taken off, to make way for Ashwin. He gets a moral victory too, luring Root into a thick outside edge, but it just trickles away for a single. These two batsmen have now quadrupled the score. And Root celebrates with a six! A slog-sweep, crisply done, although the effort lands him on the deck with another bout of cramp. Stuart Broad trots out with some kind of energy drink, and no doubt berates his captain for leaving him out on a pitch that’s giving the seamers some help.

Updated at 6.16am EST

6.11am EST 06:11

86th over: England 251-2 (Sibley 85, Root 118) Root, facing Ishant, is still up to playing his favourite shot, the unforced force into the covers, though it only brings a single this time.

“Aside Root’s serene majesty,” says Guy Hornsby, “we should also delight in Sibley’s obduracy here too. He had an absolute mare in Galle and rode his luck last dip but he’s been chanceless here, and has really moved well and been rock solid. It’s vital, given how big we’ll need to go here.” Rock-solid, that’s his game.

6.05am EST 06:05

85th over: England 250-2 (Sibley 85, Root 117) Root has cramp, understandably – he has said that he used to cramp up on getting to 80 in Asian Tests, so this is progress. He plays a pull at Bumrah, gets a thick bottom edge and jogs a single to bring up the 250. Five overs to get through before he has a well-earned bath.

Updated at 6.06am EST

6.03am EST 06:03

84th over: England 249-2 (Sibley 85, Root 116) Sharma to Sibley, which means quite a lot of shouldering arms. There was a danger today that thousands of kids would taste Test cricket for the first time and find that the main ingredient was Sibley leaving the ball. Root’s hundred has made sure there’s something to get excited about instead. And there’s time, just, for Sibley to join him, although he’s probably not remotel fussed.

5.56am EST 05:56

83rd over: England 249-2 (Sibley 85, Root 116) Back comes Bumrah, and Root, light on his feet, goes deep in the crease to deflect for two. Bumrah finds his radar, gets one to hold its line outside off and beats Root, which is no mean feat at the moment. And then he does it again, with a carbon copy. He could easily have four for 39 by now, rather than just the one.

5.51am EST 05:51

82nd over: England 247-2 (Sibley 85, Root 114) Now Kohli does take the new ball, so perhaps he agrees that it was crazy not to. He hands it to Ishant, who immediately finds some tasty outswing, adding to the feeling that Jimmy Anderson could have some fun here. Root ignores that first outswinger but creams the next one through the covers. Old ball, new ball, seeing it like a football. There’s only one slip and a gully, so even if he does nick it, he may well get away with it.

Updated at 5.51am EST

5.46am EST 05:46

81st over: England 242-2 (Sibley 85, Root 109) So the new ball is due – and Kohli doesn’t take it. This is either madness or genius. Ashwin, to be fair, finds some lavish turn, though the ball merely misses Sibley’s inside edge and goes for four leg byes. There have been 57 runs off the last ten overs. John Jervis (55th over), your dream is in danger of coming true.

5.41am EST 05:41

80th over: England 235-2 (Sibley 83, Root 108) Channel 4 are showing the highlights of a memorable innings, but Root is busy adding another one – an off-drive off the off-spinner, Sundar, which, as Mark Butcher says, anyone else would have played to mid-on with the spin. Root has 37 off his last 31 deliveries, and that’s been against a soft old ball. The new one could go either way.

“England captain @root66 healthily distracting kids from homeschooling everywhere in the UK,” says Alison Mitchell on Twitter. “in his 100th Test, and in India to boot. It’s an education of its own.”

5.37am EST 05:37

79th over: England 228-2 (Sibley 83, Root 101) Kohli brings back Ashwin, presumably for one over before the new ball. It almost works as Sibley goes down the track and gets in a tangle, but the appeal is stifled.

In case you’ve just joined us, here are Root’s scores in the first innings of his three Tests this year: 228, 186, 101 not out. All in Asia, all in the heat, all as captain. Stunning stuff.

5.32am EST 05:32

A hundred for Root! In his hundredth!!

78th over: England 227-2 (Sibley 83, Root 100) Root drives Sundar down the ground – but there’s a fine diving stop and he only gets one, to go to 99. The good piece of fielding is followed by a bad one as Sibley sweeps and Gill lets it through his hands, and legs: a double nutmeg. Sibley calmly hands the strike back to Root, who flicks to leg to reach a hundred in his hundredth Test – and his third in three Tests this year. He takes his helmet off, gives Sibley an illicit hug, and smiles that boyish smile of his, as well he may. Say what you like about lockdown, it has landed England’s best batsman in the form of his life.

Joe Root celebrates his hundred. Photograph: Pankaj Nangia/ Sportzpics for BCCI

Updated at 6.23am EST

5.27am EST 05:27

77th over: England 218-2 (Sibley 76, Root 98) There’s a little corner of Sibley’s psyche that doesn’t entirely fancy this sidekick role. He cuts Shahbaz for four, then tries again, but finds the man at extra-cover. He has 12 off the last ten overs, to Root’s 34.

5.24am EST 05:24

76th over: England 214-2 (Sibley 72, Root 98) Sibley, not to be totally outshone, sweeps Sundar for four, meeting the ball almost as crisply as Root. Then he misses another sweep, prompting an appeal and a brief conference, but they don’t review because the ball pitched outside leg because Sundar is coming round the wicket. Reviewing is one of two things India have done conspicuously well today, along with keeping up the over-rate.

5.20am EST 05:20

75th over: England 209-2 (Sibley 67, Root 98) Root plays a late cut off Shahbaz – so late that it could almost be a UK government response to the coronavirus. Except that it’s beautiful.

5.16am EST 05:16

74th over: England 205-2 (Sibley 67, Root 94) Sibley brings up the 200 with a flick off Sundar, but he’s just the sidekick now. The star turn is Root, who threads it through the on side for four more, to go into the nineties. And that’s drinks, with Root in full flow and England (whisper it) on top. That said, the new ball is half an hour away, and it will only take a couple of nicks to even things up.

Here’s Mike Jakeman, picking up on 9:01. “The madness in Madras Simon Wilde referred to also saw Kiran Nair make 303*,” he notes. “Has any Test triple-centurion gone on to play fewer matches than his six?” The answer, it seems, is no. But Nair is young enough to come again.

Updated at 5.18am EST

5.09am EST 05:09

73rd over: England 199-2 (Sibley 66, Root 89) Root switches his hands round and plays a superb reverse sweep for four. Shahbaz responds by going over the wicket and bowling into the rough. It’s the first day of the series and Root has already turned Kohli into Nasser Hussain in 2002, desperately ordering Ashley Giles to wheel away outside leg to keep Sachin Tendulkar quiet.

Updated at 5.11am EST

5.06am EST 05:06

72nd over: England 188-2 (Sibley 65, Root 80) A few singles off Washington Sundar, whose bowling has not been half as impressive as his name. He and Shahbaz, on this evidence, are much the same as Jack Leach and Dom Bess, and some way behind Ravi Ashwin. But it is only the first day of the match.

5.02am EST 05:02

71st over: England 185-2 (Sibley 64, Root 78) Root plays his tenth sweep, off Shahbaz, and miscues for the first time, but gets away with it as his top edge comes down in no-man’s-land at deep midwicket. Irritated with himself, he nails the next sweep, picks up four in the same direction, and passes 500 runs in Tests this winter. His scores have been 228, 1, 186, 11 and 78 not out: an extraordinary Joe, flowing like The Don.

4.58am EST 04:58

70th over: England 178-2 (Sibley 64, Root 71) Root puts on his dancing shoes and meets a ball from Sundar on the half-volley, but only gets a single. A caption tells us that he’s played the sweep shot nine times, connecting with every one, and making 16 runs.

4.56am EST 04:56

69th over: England 177-2 (Sibley 64, Root 70) For his other young spinner, Shahbaz, Kohli tries a pair of silly mid-offs, standing next to each other like kids in the Under-9s. In an ideal world, one of them would be making a daisy chain.

4.51am EST 04:51

68th over: England 177-2 (Sibley 64, Root 70) England have now seen off Bumrah too. Kohli brings back Washington Sundar, and Root sweeps his first ball for four to overtake Sibley. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Sundar has a leg slip and a silly square leg as Butcher calls it, but they’re not going to stop the sweep, which Root plays again, for two more.

4.47am EST 04:47

67th over: England 171-2 (Sibley 64, Root 64) Root sweeps Shahbaz to draw level again. Sure enough, Sibley darts out of his crease, but succeeds only in turning a length ball into a yorker, which he digs out.

“Dom Sibley and Joe Root were both teenage prodigies,” says Gary Naylor on Twitter, “but the transition to full potential has been different – and we can see it right here, right now. A crisis for Sibley threatened his career; a crisis for Root threatened his conversion rate. It takes all kinds.” A semi-colon and a quote from Fatboy Slim, all in one tweet.

4.43am EST 04:43

66th over: England 170-2 (Sibley 64, Root 63) Bumrah tries the yorker again, but Root is equal to it. It’s followed by a bouncer, and he copes with that too, playing a careful pull for two, though there’s an inside edge a minute later. Mark Butcher is on commentary, trying to explain the World Test Championship scenario, messing it up, and doing it with such good humour that you don’t mind at all. He’s one of the best TV commentators in England, third only to Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain.

Updated at 4.43am EST

4.38am EST 04:38

65th over: England 167-2 (Sibley 64, Root 60) Great psychology from Root, drawing level with Sibley, who wants to keep his nose in front. He goes down the track to Shahbaz not once, not twice, but three times, and the middle one brings an on-drive for four.

“Third time Sibley has faced more than 200 balls,” says Rory Dollard on Twitter. “Both previous times he’s gone past 300, made a ton and England won the game.”

Joe Root making the most of the excellent batting conditions to add more runs to the England score. Photograph: Saikat Das/ Sportzpics for BCCI

Updated at 5.18am EST

4.34am EST 04:34

64th over: England 163-2 (Sibley 60, Root 60) England have again seen off Ishant, who has bowled really well with nothing to show for it but economy (12-2-21-0). Back comes Bumrah, his run ever shorter, his arm ever stiffer, and Root pushes into the covers for four to bring up the hundred partnership. It’s taken 234 balls, and it was just what England needed after losing two wickets for none just before lunch.

Updated at 4.38am EST

4.30am EST 04:30

63rd over: England 159-2 (Sibley 60, Root 56) Better from Shahbaz Nadeem, who manages a maiden. Sibley has now faced 206 balls – a double Dentury. Joe Denly, eh, those were the days.

“Now #seashanties are back in again,” says Miranda Jollie, “I am singing Spanish Ladies along to the cricket. ‘From Ishant to Sibley ‘tis 35 leagues’.” Ha. And one of those leagues is the IPL, which you won’t find Sibley in any time soon.

4.26am EST 04:26

62nd over: England 159-2 (Sibley 60, Root 56) Ishant finds some reverse swing, jagging it back into Root, who adjusts and tucks a single. These conditions – a slow pitch, but enough movement off the seam and in the air even when the ball is in shreds – are just made for senior seamers. If only England had two of them.

Updated at 4.27am EST