Cook shines on final day with 30th Test ton

A sublime 243-ball 130 from Alastair Cook - his 30th Test ton - helped England claim a moral victory by drawing the first Test against India in Rajkot on Sunday.

Cook managed just 21 in the first innings but he made amends in the second innings as England looked to stretch their 49-run lead quickly. The left-hander joined forces with debutant, Haseeb Hameed, who had outpaced him on the fourth day.

The duo added a 180-run opening stand that saw the visitors stretch their lead to 229 before Hameed finally departed after amassing a classy 82 from 177 balls, which is the highest score for an England teenager. The partnership is the second-most by any opening pair in their team's second innings of a Test in India.

India's spinners and R Ashwin in particular stifled England's attacking intentions by extracting extra turn from an aging Rajkot surface. Ashwin conceded just 31 runs in 13.3 overs that he bowled. He succeeded in prolonging England's decision to declare as they pushed to stretch their lead to the 300-run mark.

Joe Root was the second England batsman to fall, before Ashwin claimed Cook in the 74th over. England, at that stage, had stretched the lead to 309. Cook had hit 13 fours in his ton, which is his fifth Test hundred in India, the most by a visiting batsman. He went past Everton Weekes, Clive Lloyd and Hashim Amla who made four centuries each in the country. He also bettered Jacques Kallis' eight centuries to register most hundreds by a visiting batsman in Asia. In the process he also became the fourth overseas player to score 1000 runs in India.

India's batsmen had 49 overs on the final day to negotiate and they struggled from the onset after losing opener Gautam Gambhir for a duck in the second over. First-innings centurions, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, added 47 runs for the second wicket but they too failed to finish the job. India lost the duo six-overs apart and Ajinkya Rahane soon after. It took a 47-run stand between Ashwin and Virat Kohli to bail their side out of trouble. Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja eventually negotiated the final ten overs that completed the draw.

"Really tough five days, good toss to win. In India if you score 530, you're always in the game. Good cricket wicket," Cook said. "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."