Root records 1000 Test runs for second successive year

Riding on Joe Root’s ton and Moeen Ali’s half century (99 batting), England made most of the favourable conditions to finish Day 1 on 311/4.

Here are the statistical highlights from Day 1 of the 1st Test in Rajkot on Wednesday.

Joe Root celebrates after completing his century on Wednesday

IMAGE: Joe Root celebrates after completing his century on Wednesday. Photograph: BCCI

#England (311/4) registered their first total of 300 on the first day of a Test match vs India on Indian soil, outstripping the 288 for three at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai in 1961-62.

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#In 20 successive innings, not a single total of 300 or more was recorded by a visiting side in Tests on Indian soil before England's above total. The last 300-plus score by a visiting side was Australia's 408 at Mohali in March 2013.

#Since posting 190 in the first innings of the 2012-13 Kolkata Test, Alastair Cook’s figures against India in India read -- 1 (second innings), 1 and 13 in the Nagpur Test and 21 (1st innings) in the present Rajkot Test.

#Joe Root is the first batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in Tests in 2015 as well as in 2016 -- his tallies being 1385 runs at an average of 60.21 in 14 Tests last year and 1110 (ave.52.85) in 13 Tests this year.

#Root is the second batsman to amass 1000 runs in Tests this year -- the first being Jonny Bairstow -- 1118 (ave 65.76) in 13 Tests.

#Root's splendid knock of 124 is his eleventh hundred in Tests -- his third vs India and his first in India.

#Root's brilliant record vs India is without parallel -- his tally being 735 runs in ten innings at an average of 105.00, including three hundreds and four fifties.

#Root's tally of 1200 in 18 innings (10 Tests), since January 2014 (average of 80.00) is the best by any batsman since January 2014.

#Australia's Michael Clarke's 130 off 246 balls at Chennai in February 2013 was the last instance when a visiting batsman had scored a hundred on Indian soil before Root's century. In the previous 12 Tests, the highest by a visiting batsman was Mitchell Starc's 99 for Australia at Mohali in March 2013.

Moeen Ali bats on Day 1 of the first Test in Rajkot

IMAGE: Moeen Ali bats on Day 1 of the first Test in Rajkot. Photograph: BCCI

#Moeen Ali's excellent unbeaten innings of 99 is his first fifty in seven Test innings vs India, obliterating his previous highest of 39 at Lord's in July 2014. The said knock is also his highest score in eleven Test innings in Asia.

#Moeen's above knock is his highest Test score away from home, surpassing the 68 vs Bangladesh at Chittagong in October 2016.

#Moeen's performance in Tests in 2016 is superb -- his tally being 796 runs at an average of 56.85, including two centuries and five fifties, in 13 Tests.

#Moeen is the 13th batsman to remain unbeaten on 99 at the end of the day's play. He is the fifth England player to accomplish the feat, joining Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Graeme Hick and Allan Lamb.

#Ali and Root were involved in a stand of 179 -- England's fifth highest partnership for the fourth wicket vs India in India in Tests -- the highest being 214 between Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss at Chennai in December 2008.

#After winning eight successive tosses at home between November 2013 and October 2016, this is first instance that an Indian captain has lost a toss on Indian soil.

#Haseeb Hameed, at 19 years 297 days old, is the youngest England debutant to open the innings -- the previous youngest being Len Hutton, who had opened the innings, at the age of 21 years and 3 days, against New Zealand at Lord's in 1937.

#Hameed is the fifth youngest England debutant in Tests.