'Masterful' Root rescues England after early wickets

India unearthed a fresh pace talent in debutant Akash Deep but veteran Joe Root singlehandedly kept England afloat with a tenacious hundred that shunned Bazball for a more conservative approach as the visitors hobbled to 302 for 7 on the opening day of the IND vs ENG 4th Test on FridayAt stumps the 33yearold Root was unbeaten on 106 and had used up 226 deliveries during his classical Test knock Giving him company at the other end was Ollie Robinson 26 as England staged a decent recovery from the early jolts given by Akash DeepThe 27yearold Bengal pacer who hails from Bihar picked up three wickets in his 17 overs marking yet another confident debut for the home side in the ongoing seriesHe made life miserable for Englands toporder with the new ball grabbing the topthree in 10 balls as the visitors lost half of their side in the first session of the IND vs ENG 4th TestBut Root decided to drop anchor after that reverting to his natural style of playing the waiting game The move got him and England the desired results as he struck his first century in 15 inningsWith the sun playing hide and seek during the fag end of the day the Yorkshire man hit the threefigure mark for the 31st time in his Test career striking a classy coverdrive off Akash DeepIt took him 219 balls to get there and the former skipper did not show much emotion fully aware that his job was not yet done A record 10 of his 31 Test centuries are against India and the latest one came at just the right junctureEngland are reeling from backtoback losses in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot to trail the fivematch series 12He hit nine fours in his innings and was a picture of determination noticeably avoiding the sweep shot due to the variable bounce of the pitchAlso ReadThere will be a lot of pressure on Hardik Pandya Parthiv PatelThe absence of rested pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who had dismissed Root thrice in this series also gave the Englishman some breathing space He was happy to play the spinners on the backfoot and slice the fieldHis biggest ally in Englands splendid recovery was wicketkeeperbatter Ben Foakes 47 off 126 balls The visiting side went through the second session without losing a wicket for the first time in the seriesThe duo took their time and frustrated India by adding 86 runs in the postlunch session when the wicket flattened outPost tea Mohammed Siraj 260 gave the muchneeded breakthrough dismissing Foakes three runs short of his halfcentury caught by Ravindra Jadeja at short midwicket The dismissal ended a 113run sixth wicket partnershipSiraj also dismissed Tom Hartley 13 off 26 balls with a brilliant delivery that exhibited late movement off the pitch crashing into the off stumpHartley had earlier narrowly avoided a catch by the second slip following an edge that didnt carry Instead it went past Yashasvi Jaiswal and reached the boundary ropeHe departed after scoring 13 which included a powerful six off Ravichandran Ashwin over longon Ashwin got the scalp of Jonny Bairstow who made a quickfire 38 off 35 ballsEarlier Indias good run with debutants continued as pacer Akash Deep the fourth newcomer for the hosts in this series showed promise for this levelBowling one of the finest maiden spells in a Test debut 70243 Akash Deep dismissed Ben Duckett 11 Ollie Pope 0 and Zak Crawley 42 in 10 deliveries while bowling from the dressing room endThe pacer who came through the ranks playing domestic cricket in Bengal hit the deck hard in a sensational display during the first hours play after Ben Stokes opted to batHe however had to wait a bit for his maiden Test wicketIn his second over of the day he uprooted Crawleys offstump that cartwheeled a couple of metres but the celebration was shortlived as he was found guilty of oversteppingAt the other end senior pacer Siraj struggled to get the swing going and the English opening duo had it easy against himCrawley in particular counterattacked Siraj smashing him for three consecutive boundaries and then a pulled him over midwicket for a six giving an impressive demostration of the Bazball wayFrom being dropped on 4 Crawley cruised to 32 off 32 balls before India skipper Rohit Sharma chose to bring in spin Ravindra Jadeja from the far end Leftarm spinner Kuldeep Yadav bowled a mere 10 overs without fetching a wicketIt was then that Akash Deep seized the momentum in an eventful 10th over that went on and on with two wickets and two reviews One of the reviews yielded a wicket that of DuckettAkash Deep tempted the batter to come on his front foot as the ball nipped away taking a feather edge off the lefthanders bladeThe pacer had wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel to thak for his second wicket in the space of three balls as the Indian glovesman convinced Rohit to take a reviewPope stepped out to Akash Deep only to be beaten on the offstump line and was hit on the knee roll He was given out on reviewIn the next over Akash Deep returned to finally take the wicket of Crawley in an identical manner by hitting the top of the offstump for a glorious first spell on debutRoot then got down to the rescue act and ensured that England ended the day with a respectable total on the boardWith agency inputs