It was a weird day of Test cricket. Cheteshwar Pujara had somehow survived getting run out three times in the first session and gone on to reach his hundred with a six. This was after a seemingly cricket-loving dog decided to get a better view of the action and intruded the field, which forced the umpires to call an early tea. On top of all that, the pitch at the Dr YSR ADA VDCA Stadium, which was talked up as being a ticking time bomb before the start of play, was being a bit shy.

Conditions were perfect for batting throughout the first day, but for a couple of jaffas that turned or bounced a bit more than expected. The pitch should deteriorate and slow down from the second day, but India had done extremely well after winning the toss and naturally opting to bat.

On an eventful day of cricket, Indian captain Virat Kohli stole the show with an unbeaten 151 at stumps. The 28-year-old has already hit two double hundreds in Test cricket this year and looks well on course for a third. Given his fondness for this ground, where he has scored two centuries and as many fifties in one-day cricket, you can bank on another big hundred from Kohli.

Except for a sharp chance that was dropped by Adil Rashid at long leg, the innings had been chanceless. He scored shots all around the ground with a healthy strike-rate of over 60. He was in control of his innings throughout and never let the English bowlers get on top of him. Even though the pitch did not act up on the day, it was still one that needed skill to bat on. The ball was not coming on to the bat as quickly as Kohli likes it to and it needed a lot of patience and temperament for him to get a hundred.

However, perhaps the biggest sign of Kohli’s growing maturity as a batsman and as a captain was his celebration, or lack of, after reaching three figures. There was hardly any celebration. He raised his bat towards his teammates and the schoolkids in the crowd, but that was it. No fist-pumping. No roars. His job was not over. Although India were in a comfortable position, he knew that his team had a chance to put the match beyond England if they batted long enough. He knew he was the key to that happening.

Perhaps Pujara should learn a thing or two from his skipper. The 28-year-old had scored his third Test hundred in as many matches, but again failed to convert it into a big one. Pujara threw his wicket away on 119, unnecessarily trying to cut a wide delivery from James Anderson and getting caught behind. The wicket brought to an end a 226-run partnership between him and Kohli, after they had come together when India were wobbling at 22/2 early in the first session.

Ajinkya Rahane fell late in the day in quite a similar fashion to Pujara, poking at a wide delivery, which would have given England some respite after a hard day’s work. They had started well, with Stuart Broad and Anderson sending both Indian openers back within minutes of the start. India were in danger of collapsing, but thankfully for the hosts, Pujara and Kohli were there, again, for the rescue.

England will hope the pitch opens up further early on day two, only till they realise they too have to bat two more times on it. Skipper Alastair Cook had used his quicker bowlers well, but was perhaps at fault for taking 39 overs to realise that he had Moeen Ali in his arsenal. Considering the third spinner on paper, Zafar Ansari, was used as early as the 11th over of the innings, it was a real puzzler as to why Ali was ignored for so long. The pitch had not done quite as much as expected, but except for Anderson and Broad, the visitors had been inconsistent.

Brief score:

India 317/4 (Virat Kohli 151*, Cheteshwar Pujara 119; James Anderson 3/44, Stuart Broad 1/39) vs England.