India vs England: Joe Root 'devastated' with shot choice but has no complaints over wicket, just relief at century in Asia

Root was given out to a contentious catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling, but insists 'it looked out' as he departed for a magnificent 124

Joe Root was relieved to score his first century in Asia to put England in control in the first Test with India (Getty)

Joe Root says he is a relieved man after his maiden Test century in Asia put England in a strong position on the first day of this five-match series against India.

Root’s magnificent 124 helped Alastair Cook’s side make a positive start to the opening Test in Rajkot, reaching stumps on 311 for four.

Coming in Root’s seventh Test in Asia and against the world’s No 1 side, the Yorkshireman admitted he was glad to break his duck after coming into the series with the expectation of being England’s main runscorer alongside Cook.

“It was very satisfying purely because it was in Asia, where I’d made starts before,” said Root. “There was a lot of talk before the series about me making big runs so it’s nice to do it early in the series.

“That pressure is always there when you’re a senior batsmen in the side and you just have to learn to deal with it. I don’t think that’ll ever go away, and if you can’t hack it you’re not going to be there for very long. To start this series well is really pleasing and hopefully it’ll give me a lot of confidence going into the rest of it.”

Root was eventually dismissed by a contentious catch from India seamer Umesh Yadav, who did not appear to take a clean take off his own bowling after losing the ball during a premature celebration.

Third umpire Rod Tucker eventually ruled Root was out after the decision was referred upstairs by on-field officials Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Gaffaney.

England’s No 3 batsmen, though, had no complaints.

Joe Root and Moeen Ali embrace after the former reaches his century (Reuters)

“I set off walking, it was out, and there's no point arguing about it,” he said.

“I was so disgusted with the shot I didn’t really see what was happening but having seen the slow-mo replay it does look out, even if speeded up it looks strange.”

On his side’s position in this match, Root believes a first-innings score of around 500 could put England in a winning position if, as he expects, the pitch deteriorates rapidly.

“It’s a nice start to this series and a great day’s cricket for us,” he said. “Hopefully that will give all of us a lot of confidence for the rest of the series. It’s pleasing, something to build on and a good position to be in.

“I think it will spin later in the game and our seamers will have taken a lot of pleasure seeing it reverse swing after 35 overs.

“I think if we can get 500 that would be a fantastic effort. The more overs we can bat on this wicket then the more it will deteriorate and it will quite quickly. Then the game will speed up quite drastically in my opinion.

“I might be completely wrong but having spent some time out there and seen the cracks on the wicket it might go into fast-forward from day three onwards. That means it’s really important to make a big score tomorrow.”

Joe Root salutes the crowd after reaching his century on day one of the first Test between India and England (AP)

There was more good news for England in the form of James Anderson, who arrived in India on Tuesday evening and will take part in his first net session on Thursday.

Anderson has been out for three months with a fractured shoulder blade. However, the leader of England’s attack says he is confident of being fit for next week’s second Test at Visakhapatnam.


 Anderson could return in the secon dTest after arriving in India on Wednesday 
 (Getty)

“I’m good so far, I’m a little bit bleary-eyed after just getting off the plane,” said Anderson. “But I had a good week up at Loughborough last week bowling to get some overs under my belt and hopefully I can keep that going this week and get some miles into my legs to make sure I’m as fit as I can be and maybe be fit for the second Test.

“It is still over a week away so it is hard to say right now. It all depends how the week goes, but I’m sure in the next two or three days we'll have an idea of whether that is a possibility or not.”