Joe Root lost the toss when he called 'tails': an appalling thing to do in India and has probably lost the match with it.
This was an opening day marred by two appalling and unpardonable decisions from the Indian third umpire,
The first was a brilliant stumping by keeper Foakes. The batsman's foot was on the line of the crease but not behind it as the law requires. GIVEN NOT OUT!
The second was when England called for a catch at short leg from off Rahane's glove which the onfield umpire had missed. The third umpire did not even look for the catch off the glove and declared Rahane not out. Incredible!
Happily, England got Rahane in the next over BUT England lost their review! The officials later returned the review - but what if Rahane had gone on to make additional runs? They would not have been overturned.
Onfield umpires making mistakes is understandable and not especially terrible when you have video umpires. But vid umpires cannot be allowed these horrendous errors.
The pitch is already in a state of advanced deterioration - it is almost inconceivable that the result could be anything other than an India win when batting last will be a nightmare.
Even so, England were not at all bad in the field and taking 6 wickets on an opening day was very respectable indeed. The conditions surely mean that it cannot be enough.
At stumps, England had India at a rather worrying 300 for 6.
