Alastair Cook was denied a century in his final Test match as India’s seamers sparked a collapse on the first day at The Oval, leaving England 198-7.
Here are the five moments that defined day one.
#TooSoonChef?
“It is final. I have done my bit,” said Alastair Cook after announcing his retirement from Test cricket in the lead-up to this match. Well, not quite. England’s record run-scorer provided one more, and possibly final, reason for fans and teammates to say #ThankYouChef, even if he couldn’t provide the fairytale hundred that was starting to look inevitable after he brought up his first half-century of the series.
Greeted by a guard of honour from Virat Kohli and his team, Cook’s innings was reassuringly familiar: solid without ever looking wholly comfortable, judicious outside off stump and speckled with trademark flicks off the hip. Two boundaries in consecutive deliveries off Jasprit Bumrah – the first a clinical square-cut, the second a meaty pull stroke – were reminders of Cook at his very best.
Ishant was the pick of the bowlers on day one, returning figures of 22-10-28-3 to take his wicket tally for the series to 18, one behind James Anderson.
Moeen’s strange audition
A Moeen Ali innings is generally a thing of beauty. His innings today was anything but.
Promoted to first drop to allow Root to move down to his favoured position at No.4, Moeen was given a working over by India’s seamers, repeatedly playing and missing in his slowest, and surely most fortuitous, first-class half-century. CricViz data revealed that he played 35 false shots during his 170-ball stay at the crease.
His 50 runs may yet prove vital in this match but the manner in which he made them did little to push his case as a long-term solution at No.3.
