India v England, 1st Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

England began their India tour on a strong note by posting a total of 311 for loss of 4 wickets on the first day at the new Test venue, Rajkot. After breaking India’s toss winning streak, Joe Root’s century and Moeen Ali’s unbeaten 99 put England in a commanding position. Here we look at all the stats and records recorded during the day’s play.

1 – Only one occasion of two visiting batsmen scoring centuries on the opening day of a Test series in India has been recorded so far. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis scored tons of the first day of the 2-match series at Nagpur in 2010. Had Moeen Ali scored one more run, this would have been 2nd such instance.

2 – Umesh Yadav picking a wicket was only the 2nd instance of Indian pacers picking up a wicket on the first day of a Test series at home since 2011. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami picked up wickets vs West Indies on the 1st day of 1st Test in 2013.

3 – Virat Kohli became only the 3rd Indian captain to take a review. Anil Kumble and MS Dhoni are the other two. All the 3 Indian captains have asked a referral for an LBW decision with all of them been unsuccessful.

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3 – Joe Root’s century in this game is only his 3rd century outside the home in Test cricket. This is also his first Test century in Asia. Previous best in Asia was 88 vs Pakistan in 2015 at Dubai.

5 – Haseeb Hameed is the 5th youngest player to feature for England in Test cricket. He is only the 6th teenager to play Test cricket for England.

9 – First time in 9 Tests at home, India lost a toss. Virat Kohli was captain in the last 8 (including the current test). This was also the first loss at toss for Kohli in Tests at home.

12 – Cook-Hameed pair is the 12th opening pair in Tests for England since Andrew Strauss’s retirement in August 2012. Cook alone had opened the innings with 10 different partners in this period.

13 – Moeen Ali became the 13th batsman (15th occasion) to be unbeaten on 99 overnight in Test cricket. On the previous 14 occasions, the batsmen resuming on 99 completed their centuries including 5 of them scoring 150+.

Ali is now the 5th England batsman to be on 99* overnight in Tests. The last one was Graeme Hick also vs India in 1993 which also the opening day of a Test series.

19y 95d – Age at which J Carwford became the youngest player to open for England in Test cricket. He did against South Africa in 1905. Haseeb Hameed is the 2nd youngest opener for England in Test cricket.

19y 297d – Age at which Haseeb Hameed opened batting on Test debut. He is the youngest debutant for England to open the innings in Test cricket. No other player from England opened on debut before turning 21.

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19* – Ben Stokes’ score at end of the day, his highest score in Tests against India. His previous 3 innings in this format vs India read: 0, 0 and 0.

21 – Number of players in the playing XI of either side of this Test have scored a first-class century. Mohammed Shami is the only player in this Test who hasn’t scored an FC century. His highest score of 51* in first-class cricket came in a Test vs England in 2014.

23 – Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot is now the 23rd Test venue in India. This is the 110th venue in overall to host a Test match.

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55 – Number of matches Alastair Cook has featured in Test cricket as captain, the most by an England player. Only 8 players have played more Tests than Cook as captain.

78.50 – Joe Root’s average while batting in the first innings in the opening game of a Test series, the 3rd best for any player. K Barrington averages 91.33 while Virender Sehwag averages 79.82. (Min: 900 runs)

100 – Stuart Broad became the 65th player to feature in 100 Test matches. He is the 14th player from England to do so.

179 – Joe Root and Moeen Ali’s 179-run stand for the 4th wicket is the highest stand for any wicket against India in India since Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott’s 208-run stand also for the 4th wicket in 2012 at Nagpur.

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311/4 – England’s total of 311/4 is this Test is already the highest score for a visiting team in last 21 innings in India. Last time a visiting team crossed 300-mark in India was in 2013 at Mohali by Australia (408/10).

1987 – This is the first 5-match Test series hosted by India since the India-Pakistan 5-match series in 1987.

2013 – Last time before Joe Root, a visiting batsman scored a century in India was Michael Clarke at Chennai in 2013.