Ali hands England early advantage with ton

Moeen Ali registered his second ton of the Test series against India by thumping the hosts for an unbeaten 222-ball 120 on the first day of the fifth and final Test that began in Chennai on Friday.

England's captain, Alastair Cook won the toss and opted to bat first on a surface that would favor batting early on. Cook and his partner Keaton Jennings failed to capitalize and fell cheaply in the first 13 overs. Joe Root and Ali stepped to the fore and attempted to redress the early setbacks.

Ali, in particular, had a tentative start as India's spinners tested his defence and regularly beat his outside edge. India had their opportunity to dismiss the left-hander early on, but KL Rahul dropped him at midwicket.

By the lunch interval, Ali found his fluency, and made India pay with a 146-run partnership with Root. Root was the aggressor and thumped ten fours in his 144-ball 88, which provided the momentum to the innings. Root's departure in the 55th over didn't deter Ali as he joined forces with Jonny Biarstow for an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket.

When Bairstow fell in the 81st over, Ali had moved to his hundred - his fifth in Tests. The left hander went from 95 to 99 by skipping down the track and hitting Amit Mishra inside-out, against the turn, through the covers, and reached the landmark next ball with a nudged single into the off side.

India looked for answers and took the new ball, but Ali continued playing his shots, clobbering Ishant Sharma for successive fours on the up. By stumps, Ali had hit 12 fours and had guided England to 284 for 4.

Ali has scored four test tons this year. Before his two hundreds in this series, he had made centuries against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street and against Pakistan at The Oval. He is the sixth England batsman to get two hundreds in a Test series in India. Alastair Cook, Ken Barrington, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Gatting and Andrew Strauss did it before him.