Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman while applauding England skipper Joe Root for his double century credited three experienced Indian bowlers for a fightback. 

England team on account of skipper Joe Root’s 218, had another dominating outing against India in the ongoing Chennai Test as the visitors piled up a mammoth 578 in their first innings.

Joe Root played a stunning knock of 218 and became the first batsman in Test history to hit a double ton in his 100th Test. This was Root's second double-century in three matches. 

The right-hander’s nearly nine-hour vigil was ended by left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who trapped him in LBW. 

Apart from Root, premier all-rounder, Ben Stokes played a brilliant knock of 82 while Ollie Pope struck 34 runs to propel England to a gigantic total. 

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Addressing Joe Root’s knock former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman heaped praise for him and said that it was a master class from Root. 

"What a master class from Joe Root and then Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, they all contributed but phenomenal innings from Joe Root -- high class, application, technique and more importantly taking the responsibility of the captain, wanting to score big, convert that hundred into double hundred," VVS Laxman told Star Sports.

Laxman further lauded the trio of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and R Ashwin for fight back and said that both Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem would be disappointed with the way they bowled.  

“Great to see India pull back, especially in the last session, first it was the spinners and then fast bowlers, especially Ishant Sharma, He was fantastic, back to back wickets of Buttler and Jofra Archer.

You have to give credit to the three experienced bowlers whether it's Bumrah, Ishant to Ashwin. I think both the youngsters in the form of Sundar and Nadeem will be disappointed with the way they bowled in the Test match,” he concluded. 

(Star Sports inputs)