SPORTS

Contrasting half-centuries from Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara led the recovery after India lost four early wickets in reply to England's first-innings total of 578, but they remain in danger of having to follow on as they attempt to save the first Test at Chepauk.

Jofra Archer had removed both openers in a skilful new-ball burst, before Dom Bess struck to dismiss Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to leave India 73 for 4 before drinks on the third afternoon and still more than 500 runs in arrears.

Pant launched a breathless counter-attack, hitting nine fours and five sixes as he dominated Jack Leach either side of tea, while Pujara worked the ball around in a more restrained innings. But both men fell to Bess in the evening session, leaving India 321 runs behind at the close and needing a tail-end rearguard on the fourth morning to avoid batting again.

"Rahul Dravid was right when he declared that day," a fan replied to batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. "I loved you more than Dhoni, but today you have lost a fan and thousands from Punjab and Haryana," was another. A torrent of similar tweets -- accusing Tendulkar of having taken a pro-government stance in the farm bills issue -- were made in reply to the Master Blaster's tweet on the farmers' protest earlier this week.

The flak was unprecedented for Tendulkar, a cricketing icon who has always chosen to stay away from any political controversy.

On the other end of the spectrum were the likes of Rohit Sharma, whose tweet on the same issue  departed from the script in leaving out the hashtag 'India against Propaganda' and not alluding to 'internal affairs' and 'external forces'; and Sandeep Sharma whose take on the phrase "internal affairs" was objectionable enough for it to be later deleted.

With an eye at Lords, which will host the final of the World Test Championship in June, India will take on England in the first of a four-match series at Chennai’s Chepauk on Friday. Both teams will go to battle on the back of away series victories in the longest format of the game. While an injury-hit but feisty India posted a sensational 2-1 win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Joe Root’s England won 2-0 against Sri Lanka.

Before the action begins, here’s a look at how these two teams have fared in Tests at the Chepauk.

India has enjoyed a fair bit of success at the venue where it achieved its first-ever home victory over England in 1952, by an innings and 8 runs.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has opined that India are firm favourites in the upcoming 4-match Test series but the kind of cricket England have played under Joe Root’s captaincy recently will strengthen their case against the hosts.

In the latest media column (written along with David Lloyd and Paul Newman), Hussain opined that captain Root and coach Chris Silverwood have together made the English Test side ‘much better’ in foreign conditions.

“England have got a chance, absolutely, the way they’re playing. The brand and style of cricket Joe Root and Chris Silverwood have put together has made them much better away from home. But, make no mistake, this and Australia away are the two hardest challenges for an England side. They will need to start well,” Hussain stated.

There was an unmistakable buzz in Chennai during the Pongal festival when Master, starring Vijay, one of Tamil cinema's biggest stars, hit the big screens. Theatres were only allowed to open to 50% of their seating capacity as a precaution against Covid-19, but that didn't dull the usual fanfare: the first show in the city began as early as 4am, with ardent fans queuing up from midnight and unveiling large cut-outs of their hero.

The first-day-first-show experience at Chepauk isn't too different. While it reaches epic proportions when Thala MS Dhoni is around in Chennai Super Kings colours, Test cricket has also historically drawn strong crowds. There was even a decent crowd when Virat Kohli had turned up for an India A fixture here in 2015. This game was originally supposed to take place at the SSN college ground in the outskirts of the city, but once it was moved to the MA Chidambaram Stadium, a few hundreds gathered to watch him train.