India wins toss, bats in 2nd test vs. England

Hameed was not the only batsman to prosper in Rajkot, where England had four centurions as they put their horror show against Bangladesh in Dhaka – where a collapse of 10 for 64 saw them lose the second Test – behind them.

India after winning the toss elected to bat first on a wicket which is expected to support spinners as the match progresses.

Adil Rashid dropped Kohli, when on 56 not out, at fine leg off Stokes. Ravichandran Ashwin, who had a rare tiresome game is expected to step up alongside Amit Mishra, who picked up a five-wicket haul against the Kiwis in that ODI less than three weeks ago.

“The way we are placed at the moment, I think anything above 500 will be a good total for us”, Pujara, whose ton was his third in as many tests, said.

Virat Kohli has moved to another distinction with 100s/50s ratio of 1.076 (14/12) – the 2nd best for any player in Tests after Don Bradman’s 2.230 (29/13). After that Kohli never looked back and continued to dominate.

An exciting battle on the cards, Kohli was full of determination and got off the mark with an elegant boundary coming forward.

An element of luck also seemed to go with Kohli who pulled Anderson but his top edge landed in no-man’s land before crossing the ropes.

There was unexpected early life in the pitch, allowing the tourists’ two frontline seamers to surprise openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay.

The early signs of James Anderson’s comeback from a shoulder injury will encourage England but their decision to play him in this second Test after three months out is still a risk. He then hammered his maiden double hundred in the West Indies and followed it up with a polished 211 against New Zealand in the third and final Test in Indore, becoming the first Indian captain to score two double hundreds.

It was a case of “dog stops play” on day one of Vizag’s maiden Test between India and England.

India: M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Karun Nair, Ishant Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Gautam Gambhir.