The Cricket Paper

THEY SAID WHAT?

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James Anderson

“There isn’t a lot in the surface – a bit of uneven bounce at times but if you get yourself set as a batsman then you can bat for a long time on it. When you lose the toss on the first day of a Test match, we always try to stay under three runs an over – conceding 270 in a day is a pretty good effort but I think they got 40-50 too many today. "

Cheteshwar Pujara

“I’m really happy with how the series has begun for me. I wanted to build on that Rajkot hundred and we wanted to build a partnershi­p. This pitch is slower than Rajkot. I see more rough on both sides. There might be a little more help for off-spinners as the game progresses. We would like to put up a big score, and, hopefully, we don’t need to bat again. "

Mike Atherton

“If India can get 450 or bat until teatime tomorrow it’s going to be tough for England, who didn’t get things entirely right but I know a lot of England sides that would have struggled on that deck. Kohli didn’t have a particular­ly good series against England in 2014 when Jimmy Anderson was all over him but it all came together nicely for him today. "

Sourav Ganguly

“Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli batted exceptiona­lly well. Pujara is India’s best No3 and there should be no questionin­g about his place or his strikerate. He was dropped in the West Indies but came back and has piled on the runs. India were in a spot of bother but the captain came out and played a wonderful knock.The pair compliment­ed each other very well. "

Nick Knight

“It was a masterclas­s from both Kohli and Pujara. There was something predictabl­e about the way Kohli batted through to the end once Pujara got out. India had a scare when they were two down so all credit to England but the class of those two batsmen told. How good a score they have will depend on how the pitch deteriorat­es. "

Andrew Strauss

“I think he (Alastair Cook) is very comfortabl­e leading this team as he has been for a while now, so it probably takes less out of him now than it used to. From what I’ve seen he is in a really good place. He’s batting well and he’s still young. It is quite scary how young he is really and I have every faith that he will carry on past this series and into the summer. "

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