Nottingham: The first Test between England and India ended in a draw after Day five of the match was abandoned due to rain on Sunday.England skipper Joe Root admitted that Indian team were on top on day five of the opening Test but the hosts’ captain was confident of dismissing the remaining nine visitors batsmen on Sunday. The first Test between England and India ended in a draw after Day five of the match was abandoned due to rain on Sunday.
India needed just 157 runs to win the first Test on day five while England needed nine wickets but no play was possible due to rain. The visitors had scored 52 runs after bundling out England in the third session on Saturday. At one stage it looked like we could have potentially had 40 overs and I think in that period, it felt like we would have been able to create nine chances on the surface like that, ESPNcricinfo quoted Root as saying.
I’d be lying if I wasn’t to say that India weren’t in the driving seat going into today, but we know on a wicket like that, a couple of wickets in a cluster and of course that game can turn on its head, he added. The English skipper feels the pressure of batting on the final day of the Test could have tilted the match in England’s favour.
With the pressures of batting on a fifth-day wicket, things could very quickly have fallen in our favour and we certainly believed that we’d have been able to create nine more chances, said Root. If we’d have been good enough in the field and taken those then we could have been sat here one-nil up, but unfortunately the weather has won.
In many ways, the weather’s robbed us all of a fantastic final day of Test cricket, which is a slight shame, he added. The action moves to Lord’s for the second match which gets underway from Thursday.
Meanwhile, We were expecting rain on days three and four but it chose to come on day five. It would have been enjoyable to play and watch, but it’s a shame, Kohli said after the match.
This team will be our template going ahead, Indian captain Virat Kohli said after the rain-marred opener against England ended in a draw on Sunday, meaning they will stick to the 4-1 pace-spin combination in the remainder of five-Test series.
So it will be a toss-up between Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in the upcoming four matches, with the former preferred for the first Test in which India were deprived of a victory owing to persistent rain that washed out the entire fifth day’s play.
We were expecting rain on days three and four but it chose to come on day five. It would have been enjoyable to play and watch, but it’s a shame,” Kohli said after the match.
This is exactly what we wanted to do; start strong. On day five we knew we had our chances. We certainly felt like we were on top of the game.
India needed to score 157 runs on the final day, but the rain did not allow a single ball to be bowled.
Getting that lead was crucial, but it’s a shame we couldn’t finish day five. Getting to fifty overnight was important. We just didn’t want to play for survival. Our intent kept us ahead. It’s hard work of three odd weeks for our bowlers with the bat.
Kohli added, We were talking of a lead of 40-odd but we ended up with 95 and those runs were gold dust.
“Most likely this will be our template in this series, but adaptability has been our strength. The conditions and the pace on the wicket needs to be seen, but this team will be our template. England and India have always been a blockbuster, and looking forward to the next Test.”
As part of the new World Test Championship cycle, both India and England logged home four points each.
Only 250 plus overs out of a maximum 450 were possible due to the inclement weather. India, chasing a target of 209, were well-placed at 52 for one in 14 overs at the end of fourth day.
Though India had their nose ahead, English skipper Joe Root said rain marred “what would have been a very interesting final day”.
“Great Test match to play in and watch as well. Sets up the series really well and hopefully we can take it into the next games. We certainly believed we could win. We knew we would have opportunities if we took our catches and kept our fields.