ENG 1st inngs: 67/2 after 27 overs (Dom Sibley 26, Joe Root 4)
LUNCH on day one in Chennai. England were the happier team for most of that session but India will be confident after getting those two late strikes. The pitch in Chennai is slow and there is hardly anything on offer for the bowlers. England would want to make the most of winning the toss and getting a good start. Crucial session coming up!

ENG 1st inngs: 63/2 after 25.4 overs
WICKET! India have another one! Smart move by Kohli to bring Bumrah back into the attack and the right-arm quick gets his first Test wicket at home. Daniel Lawrnece is out for a duck as he is struck plumb in front. No review taken by England. Skipper Joe Root, playing his 100th Test, is out in the middle.

ENG 1st inngs: 63/1 after 23.5 overs
WICKET! A breakthrough out of nowhere for India! Rory Burns has thrown his wicket away after a fine start. He played a top shot earlier in the over but then, for some reason, got tempted to play a reverse-sweep and only managed to hand Pant a simple catch. Ashwin has struck for India! Burns departs for 33 off 60 as Daniel Lawrence comes to the crease.

ENG 1st inngs: 57/0 after 22 overs (Rory Burns 29, Dom Sibley 26)
First four for Burns and it comes off a risky shot. The left-hander gets across and sweeps one from Ashwin from in front of the stumps. He manages to get some bat on it and the ball races away to the fine-leg fence.

ENG 1st inngs: 52/0 after 21 overs (Rory Burns 25, Dom Sibley 25)
Nadeem bowls five decent balls to Sibley before drifting to leg and conceding a single. The left-arm spinner isn’t getting much rip off the surface.

ENG 1st inngs: 51/0 after 20 overs (Rory Burns 25, Dom Sibley 24)
Fifty up for England in the 20th over. This is a fine start for the visitors. The openers are well set. India would want to keep up the pressure and have patience.

ENG 1st inngs: 49/0 after 19 overs (Rory Burns 23, Dom Sibley 24)
Better from Nadeem as he bowls a tight line to Sibley. The right-hander isn’t the most comfortable against left-arm spinners and India will hope to see his back soon.

ENG 1st inngs: 48/0 after 18 overs (Rory Burns 22, Dom Sibley 24)
Three runs from that Ashwin over. Burns and Sibley haven’t looked too uncomfortable against the senior off-spinner so far. This pitch is posing a challenge to Ashwin too.

ENG 1st inngs: 45/0 after 17 overs (Rory Burns 19, Dom Sibley 24)
Poor start from Nadeem, he concedes seven runs in his first over. The left-arm spinner pitches the last ball of the over short and wide, Sibley rocks back and cuts it for four comfortably.

Shahbaz Nadeem is into the attack. Huge opportunity for the left-arm spinner to make a mark.

ENG 1st inngs: 37/0 after 15 overs (Rory Burns 15, Dom Sibley 20)
Bumrah bowls his first no-ball but follows that up with a peach to beat Sibley’s outside edge. Three singles come from that over. It’s hard, hard work for Indian bowlers at the moment.

ENG 1st inngs: 33/0 after 14 overs (Rory Burns 13, Dom Sibley 19)
Second boundary for Sibley and England! Ashwin pitches it full and straight and the right-hander flicks it wonderfully to find the gap between the fielders on the leg side. Rohit chased it down to the rope but couldn’t pull it back at the end. Should’ve done better.

ENG 1st inngs: 29/0 after 13 overs (Rory Burns 13, Dom Sibley 15)
Three singles from that Bumrah over. England have got just the one boundary so far but the openers have done well with their running between the wickets.

ENG 1st inngs: 26/0 after 12 overs (Rory Burns 12, Dom Sibley 13)
Just a single from that Ashwin over. Time for a drinks break. England will be happy with their start as Kohli keeps an eye on the over-rate.

ENG 1st inngs: 25/0 after 11 overs (Rory Burns 12, Dom Sibley 12)
Risky fielding effort from Nadeem in the deep. Sibley clips it to the square-leg fence, Nadeem comes around from fine-leg and stops the ball just inside but ends up stepping on the ball as he tries to block it with his boot. He twists his ankle and looks in a bit of discomfort but no real damage done.

Bumrah has changed ends and is back into the attack.

ENG 1st inngs: 20/0 after 10 overs (Rory Burns 11, Dom Sibley 8)
Two runs from Ashwin’s second over. Burns clips it towards square-leg and picks up a couple. The senior off-spinner has plenty of men around the bat.

ENG 1st inngs: 18/0 after 9 overs (Rory Burns 9, Dom Sibley 8)
There really is nothing happening for pacers on this pitch so far. The ball is coming on to the bat nice and slow, with hardly any movement in the air or off the pitch. Ishant doing well to attack the stumps.

ENG 1st inngs: 16/0 after 8 overs (Rory Burns 8, Dom Sibley 7)
England get their first boundary! Ashwin bowls it short and wide, Sibley waits on it and cuts it to third-man for four. Just a hint of turn for the offie in his first over.

Kohli wasting little time to bring in spin. Ashwin is into the attack after just 7 overs.

ENG 1st inngs: 10/0 after 7 overs (Rory Burns 7, Dom Sibley 2)
Good toss to win for Root, this. The bounce so early in the game isn’t really inspiring. Patches of grass might make it a bit two-paced. Ishant has bowled a maiden over too.

ENG 1st inngs: 10/0 after 6 overs (Rory Burns 7, Dom Sibley 2)
First maiden over of the day and it comes from Bumrah. He comes from around the wicket and does well to keep a tight line against the left-handed Burns.

ENG 1st inngs: 10/0 after 5 overs (Rory Burns 7, Dom Sibley 2)
Ishant Sharma ends his third over with a beauty. It was pitched short of good length and moved away from Sibley after pitching. First time a batsman has been beaten today. Ishant rolled the wrist wonderfully there.

ENG 1st inngs: 9/0 after 4 overs (Rory Burns 7, Dom Sibley 2)
Good carry for Bumrah no real movement for him either. The England openers have done well so far. The visitors need to lay a good platform for themselves.

ENG 1st inngs: 6/0 after 3 overs (Rory Burns 5, Dom Sibley 1)
Burns picks it from middle-off and clips it past mid-wicket for three. Not much happening for Ishant at the moment, he’s hitting good areas but isn’t getting much movement. Sibley gets off the mark with a push wide of mid-off.

ENG 1st inngs: 2/0 after 2 overs (Rory Burns 2, Dom Sibley 0)
Tough, tough chance for Pant but Burns gets an early reprieve! Bumrah bowls his first ball down leg and gets a faint edge, Pant dives across and gets his hand to it but can’t hold on. Good, solid forward defence by Sibley later in the over. Just a single from that over.

ENG 1st inngs: 1/0 after 1 over (Rory Burns 1, Dom Sibley 0)
Ishant starts from around the wicket to Burns and concedes a single to fine-leg off the second ball. Follows that up with four dots to Sibley. Not much swing for the right-arm quick to start off.

9.30 am: We’re ready for live action from the Chepauk! Rory Burns and Dom Sibley are opening the batting for England. Ishant Sharma has the new ball in hand for India. Here we go!

9.26 am: The teams are out on the field and it’s time for the national anthems.

9.17 am: R Ashwin – “Was great to bring a smile to Indians’ faces (win in Australia). We have to keep moving forward. I though England played really well last time, even if the scoreline might not suggest that. We’re expecting a tough fight this time as well. England and Australia always come well prepared to India.”

9.05 am: Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (w), Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shahbaz Nadeem.
England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root(c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler(w), Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, James Anderson.

9.04 am: A number of changes for India too. Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma return, , Shahbaz Nadeem gets a game with Axar Patel injured, and both R Ashwin and Washington Sundar will play.

9.02 am: Root says he thinks the pitch could deteriorate. Four changes for England from the last Test in Sri Lanka. Kohli says India would have batted first too.

9.00 am: TOSS – England have won the toss and elected to bat first!

8.59 am: Pitch report by Nick Knight and Deep Dasgupta: “There hasn’t been a first-class match here since last January. It looks fresh, has grassy patches. Could be a little two-paced.”

8.55 am: India need 70 points to qualify for the World Test Championship final. All the scenarios are explained here.

8.53 am: We’re just minutes away from the toss at the Chepauk!

Sportzpics for BCCI / Pankaj Nangia

8.44 am: India have been dealt a blow ahead of the start of the game as Axar Patel has been ruled out because of a knee injury. “He complained of pain in his left knee during Team India’s optional training session on Thursday,” the BCCI stated.

8.40 am: Hello and welcome to live updates from day one of the first Test between India and England.

The first two Tests of the four-match series will be played in Chennai, before the action shifts to Chennai.

Virat Kohli returns to captain a buoyant India against England as they aim to build on their famous win over Australia by sealing a place in the World Test Championship final.

Next up is the much-anticipated four-game series against Joe Root’s England, who are also on a winning streak after beating Sri Lanka 2-0 on their first Test tour since the pandemic.

However, India start as strong favourites on their spin-friendly home pitches, where England haven’t won a Test since 2012.

India top the table followed by New Zealand, Australia and England. The Black Caps reached the final when Australia called off their tour of South Africa over coronavirus concerns.