Sehwag, Pujara Give India Control

Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad: India ended at 323 for 4 courtesy a smashing hundred by Virender Sehwag and a classy unbeaten 98 by Cheteshwar Pujara against England at Motera in Ahmedabad.

England's key spinner Graeme Swann did the trick as he cleaned up Virat Kohli to pick up his fourth wicket of the day against India on the first day of the first Test.

Graeme Swann took his third wicket when he had Sachin Tendulkar caught by Samit Patel. Swann bowled a loopy and fullish delivery on the off that spun back in and Tendulkar chipped down the track and lofted it straight into the hands of Patel at deep mid-wicket.

Tendulkar hit two fours in his 18-ball 13. India went to tea at 250/3. Graeme Swann took his second wicket when he clean bowled Virender Sehwag.

Swann tossed up the ball around off and got it to spin back into Sehwag after landing, who kneeled down for a heave across the line over mid-wicket but was a shade early into it. The ball curled in, beat the bat and went on to hit the off-stump to end a fabulous knock.

Sehwag departed after hitting a six and 15 fours in a run-a-ball 117. Cheteshwar Pujara hit his second half-century to increase England misery.

Pujara's fifty came after Sehwag, playing his 99th Test, reached his 23rd century off 90 balls. Sehwag reached his century with a boundary to long-on off Graeme Swann.

This is Sehwag's second Test century against England after the ton in Nottingham in 2002. The century came after Graeme Swann clean bowled Gautam Gambhir to give England the much-needed first breakthrough.

Swann struck in the second over after lunch as Gambhir went back into the crease to try and play through the off-side but was beaten as it skidded through to take the off-stump.

Earlier, India were comfortably placed at 120/0 at lunch on the first day of the first Test against England thanks to the first century stand between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag since Centurion 2010.

Gambhir and Sehwag brought up the century stand on the first ball of the 20th over.

Playing his 99th Test, Virender Sehwag reached his 33rd fifty off 45 deliveries.

And after reaching his fifty, Sehwag opened his arms further hitting three successive deliveries from Tim Bresnan for two fours and a six over long-on.

Earlier, Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat against England in the first Test at Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Dhoni says the pitch is different from the usual Ahmedabad tracks, and there will be even less help for the fast bowlers than usual. And it's time to welcome back Yuvraj Singh to a Test side.

Cook: "It's a tough place to come and play but we've prepared well for the last 3 weeks. We're all fit and keen to do well. Finn is injured, Bresnan is in. We don't see this series as a learning curve, we have come here to win."

India have the big advantage of playing at home but they still need to be at their best if they want to exact 'revenge' for the humiliation they suffered on their last trip to England.

Teams

India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Pragyan Ojha

England Alastair Cook (captain), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson

Brief scores
India 323 for 4 (Sehwag 117, Pujara 98*, Swann 4-85)