England had copped a lot of criticism for not declaring their second innings in the final session on Day 4, even after the lead crossed the 400-run mark in the opening Test against India at Chepauk.

Speaking on the same, skipper Joe Root on Tuesday (February 9) admitted that India’s swashbuckling wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant was a big factor behind the decision.

Notably, Pant had smashed 91 off 88 balls in the first innings after most of India’s top-order batsmen got out cheaply. The southpaw was particularly severe on English spinners.

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Root’s comments came after England completed a comprehensive 227-run victory over India to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.

“We could have declared earlier, for sure, we could have. I wanted to make sure that there were only two results possible in this game. I wanted to make sure that we turned up today with the ball still being hard. We wanted to give our bowlers an extra bit of time to be raring to go. We wanted to get to 400 and then we wanted to press the accelerator. Actually, it was going to be really important that we had runs on the board as it was a fast outfield,” Root said during the virtual press conference, as quoted by ANI.

“Rishabh Pant bats for one session and he can make things quite interesting. I did not want the pressure of having to contain and as well as take wickets. I wanted to make sure that the bowlers were concentrating on the ways of finding the wickets on that surface. We were always going to create ten chances, we just had to be disciplined and take the chances that came our way. We could have declared earlier, I am just glad how it has turned out,” he added.

Chasing 420 in the fourth innings, India got bowled out for 192. Apart from skipper Virat Kohli (72) and Shubman Gill (50), none of the batsmen managed to touch the 20-run mark in the second essay.

For England, Jack Leach picked up four wickets in the fourth innings while Anderson returned with the figures of 3 for 17.

With this victory, England climbed to the first spot in World Test Championship (WTC) standings while India slipped to fourth place.

“The toss was going to be important. From that point, it was crucial that we made the most of batting first on that wicket. We played fantastic cricket, we were in control of the game and the guys were exceptional today in particular. It will give us confidence going into the series. I think Anderson seems to get better with time. Those fitness levels are right up there, it is probably the best he has ever been in his whole career,” said Root.

“This is certainly a very good victory. But in the scheme of this series, we know it’s just a start. We know India is a very good team and they are a very proud nation, they have some exceptional players. They will come hard at us but to be sitting 1-0 up, it’s really good. Really proud of how we played this week, there are some areas we can improve on,” he further remarked.

The second Test will be played at the same venue from February 13.

(With ANI inputs)