Mohammed Shami strikes twice but Joe Root takes England to 163/3 at tea

Mohammed struck twice in the second session before England skipper Joe Root scored his 41st Test halfcentury to guide the hosts to 163 for three at tea on the opening day of the first cricket against India at Edgbaston on WednesdayAt the break Root was unbeaten on 65 while Jonny Bairstow was batting on 27 not out with England playing out 54 overs till now Shami 227 bowled an incisive spell after lunch dismissing Keaton Jennings 42 and Dawid Malan 8 as India piled on the pressure in the second sessionJennings was the first to go but in an odd manner Just prior to his dismissal there was a pigeon near the pitch that distracted him and in the very next ball he played on after the ball clipped his pads It was a lucky breakthrough for India as their pacers found movement after the break Ishant Sharma 037 and Shami bowled closer to the England batsmen and made them play more often with the latter reaping reward England crossed the 100run mark in the 36th overRavichandran Ashwin 133 had a loud lbw shout against Malan which was turned down as India lost a review But Malan never looked comfortable against Shami who trapped him lbw eventually in the 40th over The ball was doing just enough and even DRS didnt help the batsmanBairstow though made sure that India didnt get an upper hand on the proceedings by adopting an attacking approach against Ashwin Root meanwhile dropped anchor and ate up a lot more deliveries against the Indian pacers His strikerate dropped below 50 even as he completed his halfcentury off 107 ballsIt was his 12th halfcentury against India in 12 successive Tests In all he put on 51 runs for the fourth wicket with Bairstow Root also became the quickest batsman to 6000 Test runs in terms of time from his debut when he reached the landmark Root got to the landmark in five years and 231 days of his Test career surpassing former England captain Alastair Cooks mark of five years and 339 days with RootEarlier England consolidated their position despite losing Cook early reaching 83 for one at lunch after opting to bat Ashwin was the only wickettaker for India in the prelunch session bowling Cook 13 with a ripper in the ninth over The ball pitched on middle and turned away to knock back Cooks offstumpIshant induced an edge from Jennings when he was on 9 but the chance was dropped in the slips by vicecaptain Ajinkya Rahane To everyones surprise India captain Virat Kohli introduced Ashwin in only the seventh over of the morning even before Shami and Hardik Pandya The move yielded result instantly when Ashwin bowled Cook in only his second over to give India the breakthroughIt was the eighth time Ashwin had dismissed the lefthanded opener in Test cricket Root however started off well and struck a few lusty boundaries to shift the momentum in his sides favour Shami came on as a secondchange bowler and bowled a tight first spell albeit lacking enough penetration to get another wicket for India as England crossed 50 in the 16th overJennings played a few premeditated sweeps shots against Ashwin but he settled down soon after a nervous start to add 57 runs for the second wicket with Root While the hosts had named their lineup yesterday India surprisingly left out Cheteshwar Pujara in favour of Shikhar Dhawan with KL Rahul slated to bat at number threeIndia also went in with just the lone spinner in Ashwin supporting a threepronged pace attackCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever