Cook (left) and Kohli (right) shake hands after the match ends as a draw

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

England fought valiantly on the final day of the first Test in Rajkot, but ultimately fell four wickets short of beating India and taking a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series.

This marked the first time that a Test match in India has ended as a draw since India and England clashed in Nagpur back in December 2012.

Starting out the day on 114/0, England captain Alastair Cook and debutant Haseeb Hameed added 66 runs to their partnership and the overnight score before Hameed was caught and bowled by Amit Mishra for a career-best 82, which came off 177 balls and included seven boundaries and a six.

Joe Root fell shortly after for just four runs, but England recovered as Cook and Ben Stokes put together a 68-run stand, during which Cook brought up his century.

With time running out, England upped the ante and took the attack to the hosts until Cook was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin for 130 off 243 deliveries, which included 13 boundaries.

Cook’s hundred was his 12th as skipper, which put him in a class of his own as he surpassed Graham Gooch’s record for the most Test centuries by an England captain.

It was also his fifth triple-figure score against India, which is the most by an overseas batsman. Furthermore, it was his ninth Test century in Asia, which saw him surpass Jacques Kallis as the player with the most hundreds by a visiting batsman in the continent.

Cook celebrates after scoring his 30th Test century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Stokes remained undefeated on 29 as England declared on 260/3, which set India a target of 310 to win.

Mishra was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets, while Ashwin chipped in with one.

Chasing 310 to win, India got off to a dismal start as opening batsman Gautam Gambhir was sent packing by Chris Woakes for a duck in the second over.

India seemed to be recovering from the early loss of Gambhir before Adil Rashid struck twice in quick succession, taking out Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay for 18 and 31 respectively.

Moeen Ali also joined the party as he clean bowled Ajinkya Rahane for one run to leave India in a spot of bother at 71/4.

India captain Virat Kohli and Ashwin stemmed the bleeding and kept England at bay with a much-needed 47-run partnership before Ashwin was dismissed by Zafar Ansari for 32.

Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha could only manage to make nine runs before he was caught and bowled by Rashid, but despite the late flurry of wickets, India held on to end the match as a draw.

Kohli finished on 49 off 98 balls, which included six boundaries, while Ravindra Jadeja also struck six boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 32, which came off 33 deliveries.

Rashid was the most successful bowler with three wickets, while Moeen and Ansari and Woakes claimed one wicket each.

Rashid took three wickets, but it wasn’t enough to get England over the line

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Kohli was relieved to have drawn the match, but admitted that his side had let themselves down in the fielding department.

“Good opportunity to find out new things about your game,” he said. “Couldn’t get a better chance to practice other aspects of your game (towards the end). Important to convince yourself you can negotiate what’s thrown at you. We could have been much better on days 1 and 2. We dropped five catches. England are a side we are not going to take for granted. Good to get things done in the end. Need to correct the things we need to. England’s bowlers put constant pressure. We need to accept what happened.”

Cook was gutted to have come so close to clinching an unlikely win, and said: “Really tough five days, good toss to win. In India if you score 530, you’re always in the game. Good cricket wicket. Relentless with the ball, we didn’t let India score too quickly. To keep them to 480, we did well. The way Has (Hameed) played was brilliant. Wanted to make them score something they couldn’t get. Flat for the first three days, and then turned more and more. He (Hameed) looked the real deal in the first innings, we certainly found a batsman there, he certainly looks a good ‘un. Adil stepped up another level.”

Moeen was named Man of the Match, and said: “Very good pitch. Enjoyed batting with Rooty. We feel like we’ve prepared really well. Something I’ve developed over the past few years, in international cricket, the pace is important. I thought we played spin really well here.”