Root 150 and Stokes blitz increases England’s advantage

Brutal Stokes takes visitors up a gear on a morning of two halves

Ben Stokes and Joe Root run between the stumps during day two of the first test match between India and England in Chennai (BCCI)

A ying-and-yang approach from Joe Root and Ben Stokes saw England breeze through the second morning of the first Test against India, with 92 runs leaving them satisfied at lunch on 355 for three.

The England captain converted a 20th Test hundred into a 10th score above 150, becoming the seventh player in the history of the game to pass the mark in three consecutive matches after 228 and 186 against Sri Lanka to start the way. But for all his quiet brilliance, he was put in the shade by the brutal chaos of Stokes, whose 63, featuring 11 boundaries, two of them sixes, press fast forward on a pitch starting to misbehave.

It says a lot about England’s work so far that even the moments of encouragement for India’s bowlers were wins for the tourists. There are already worn patches to be exploited, bounce threatening gloves and turn that is starting to cause great misjudgements.

After the dismissal of Dom Sibley for 87 to close out day one, Ben Stokes faced the first ball of day two with a view to reciprocating the opener’s support of Root. The England captain was resuming on 128, England on 263 for three, looking for the kind of application that rescued the innings from 63 for two to reach a commanding first-innings total.

It was a morning of two halves. Because for the first hour it was quietly contemplative. Jasprit Bumrah’s eighth ball of the day almost yorked Stokes on nought, somehow missing the stumps after deflections off bat and then pad.

Steady progress saw Root and Stokes make it to the drinks break with 40 from 14.3 overs. But the 13 picked up in the two overs before the end of that first hour was a nod of things to come. Once the half-century stand was ticked off from 106 deliveries, Stokes, with 31 of those runs, decided to try and ram England’s advantage down India’s throats.

He didn’t quite nail the self-appointed brief at first, offering a couple of chances in the space of five balls. Having lifted Ashwin down the ground for a crisp six in the sixth over of the day, an attempt to charge the off spinner saw him skew a similar effort to the bowler’s right hand. Thankfully, the force was too great for Ashwin to get anything other than his wrist to the ball.

Then, as left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem tried to utilise the rough outside his off stump, a slog sweep stung the left-hand of a diving Cheteshwar Pujkara at midwicket.

At the other end, there was nothing too pulsating from Root, beyond a minor moment when he had to wait for a DRS review when Nadeem felt he had trapped him LBW. There was a moment when he almost got sucked into his vice-captain’s chaos, called through for a foolish single that would have seen Root run out for 151 with a better throw.

Not that these alarms changed Stokes’ approach. A brace of reverse fours off Nadeem took him to a 33rd score of 50 or more, this one from 73 deliveries. It forced Kohli to take his frontline spinner out of the attack, despite the track finally playing a tune to their liking. Unperturbed by the change, Stokes offered similar treatment to Washington Sundar's off-breaks, getting outside the line and reaching to flip deliveries to the leg side for another couple of boundaries.

There is still plenty more work to do, but after India's 89.3 overs in the field, chasing leather for 29.3 this morning will have compounded that misery. Thanks to Stokes, England are clicking up the gears.