MOEEN Ali made a priceless contribution with the bat and ended unbeaten on 99 as he and Joe Root led an England fightback on the opening day of the first Test with India in Rajkot.

The Worcestershire all-rounder came to the crease with England wobbling at 102-3 in the 33rd over after electing to bat.

He and Root added 179 in 48.2 overs before the latter was dismissed for an excellent 124 to take England to 281-4.

Moeen went to 99 with a single off the first ball of the final over from Amit Mishra and Ben Stokes (30 not out) blocked out the remaining five balls as England closed on 311-4 from 93 overs.

In total Moeen faced 192 deliveries and struck nine fours.

It followed on from another rescue act knock by Moeen of 68 in the first Test of the recent series with Bangladesh in Chittagong.

Moeen had an early scare when an inside edge against spinner Ravichandran Ashwin just failed to carry to short leg from his second delivery.

He collected his first boundary past third slip off Umesh Yadav and in the same over desposited the ball through backward point to the ropes.

Moeen began to flourish and went to his half century off 99 deliveries with a couple of runs through the covers off Ashwin.

He began to take the attack to Ashwin, striking him through mid wicket, then over mid on and also via a cover drive for boundaries.