England beat India 227 runs in series-opener, take 1-0 lead
Chennai: A determined England humbled India by 227 runs in the opening Test to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series here on Tuesday.
Set a world record 420-run target to go one up in the rubber on the fifth day, India were bowled out for 192 in the second session after captain Virat Kohli's 72 off 104 balls on an MA Chidambaram surface, where batting wasn't the easiest of tasks.
Veteran pacer James Anderson (3/17) and left-arm spinner Jack Leach (4/76) shared seven wickets between them to complete a memorable win for England after skipper Joe Root led a strong first-innings batting display with a magnificent double century.
Kohli was the lone hope left for India after opener Shubman Gill (50) had batted beautifully but was sent back by Anderson just when he looked set for a big one.
And When Ben Stokes bowled the India captain, it was as good as over for the home team that entered the series after its incredible triumph in Australia.
While Gill hit seven fours and a six in his fluent knock, Kohli struck nine boundaries during his stay in the middle. However, with India left to climb a mountain, their efforts were never going to be enough.
Anderson was terrific with his three-wicket burst in seven overs, including four maidens. Leach, Dom Bess and Stokes also enjoyed some success.
The 38-year-old Anderson showed why he is considered a master of reverse swing, cleaning up Gill (50) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) in the same over with deliveries that came in sharply.
India began the day at 39 for one, trailing by 381 runs.
Brief Scores:
England: 578 and 178.
India 337 & 192 all out in 58.1 overs (Shubman Gill 50, Virat Kohli 72; James Anderson 3/17, Jack Leach 4/76 ).
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
