India and England clashed in the first Test of the four-match series in Chennai and the visitors ended day one on a high. England captain Joe Root, in his 100th Test, won the toss and chose to bat first.
The Chepauk pitch looked dead and batting was easy, given that Joe Root scored his 20th Test century and became only the fifth captain to score a ton in his 100th Test. He, along with Dom Sibley, frustrated the Indian bowling unit to no ends, adding 200 runs for the third wicket.
Root remained unbeaten on 128 at stumps, while Sibley fell to Bumrah for 87 in 286 balls, becoming only the third England opener to play more than 250 balls in the first innings of a Test in India.
Meanwhile, the Indian fielders and bowlers were exasperated at how the pitch played and offered nothing to the bowlers, spinners, or fast bowlers. India went in with three spinners in Ashwin, Sundar, and Nadeem, and Ishant and Bumrah were the pacers.
IND v ENG 2021: Twitterverse has a field day with memes on Rohit-Kohli's exasperated photo
As Root and Sibley wore down the bowlers and fielders, Rishabh Pant came to the rescue with his witty jibes from behind the stumps and kept the bowler and close-in fielders alert and on their feet.
One of his funniest jibes came at Washington Sundar, as Pant teased him about his name. He said, “Mera naam hai Washington Mujhe jana hai DC, which translates to My name is Washington and I want to go to DC.”
This left the fielders and commentators smiling and was one of the positive things for the home side on a relatively uneventful day.
Here is the video of Pant chirping away behind the stumps on day 1:
