Joe Root, England’s captain elect and most gifted batsman, was upstaged by Moeen Ali, whose fifth Test hundred put the tourists in a strong position on the first day of this series finale against India.

Moeen, whose position in the top six had been under threat following a mixed winter, reached the close unbeaten on 120.

It was a fine innings and helped England to 284 for four, a position that has perhaps laid the foundation for a consolation victory in this fifth Test.

However, Root will be angry he could not reach three figures himself having been dismissed in controversial circumstances on 88.

Despite his rare talent, this was the 27th time the Yorkshireman has not converted a half-century in Tests.

Root had practiced batting on a road outside the MA Chidambaram Stadium on the eve of this match after the nets here were rendered unusable by the cyclone that struck Chennai on Monday.

Root and Moeen steadied England's ship in Chennai (Getty)

For large parts of his innings he made the surface at this ground appear equally flat as he moved to within 12 runs of his 12th Test century.

Alastair Cook had proclaimed Root “ready” to succeed him as captain following the fourth Test defeat in Mumbai that had put England 3-0 down in the series ahead of this final match.

Joe Root celebrates reaching his half century on the first day of the fifth Test (AP)

Root looked ready to contribute a match-defining innings as well before he was undone by what appeared a speculative India review when technology suggested a faint under-edge behind from an attempted sweep to spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

It appeared such a shot in the dark that India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel didn’t even bother to appeal.

Yet even though there was an element of doubt in the final decision – Root’s bat also hit the ground moments after a faint spike showed up on Ultra Edge – third umpire Bruce Oxenford overturned the on-field decision of Marais Erasmus and sent Root on his way.

Root was unhappy with his dismissal for 88 (Reuters)

The 25-year-old was unimpressed, appearing to mouth “bulls***” as he walked off and kicking out at the boundary marker. That could land him with a reprimand if the incident is reported by match referee Jeff Crowe.

Root has now passed 50 in all 11 Tests he has played against India – a remarkable record.

Yet after making 124 in Rajkot, he would have been desperate to reach three figures again.

To compound Root’s frustrations he fell 11 short of the 1491 runs scored by Michael Vaughan in 2002 that represents the record number in a calendar year by an England batsman.

Jonny Bairstow also just missed out on passing Vaughan’s landmark, his innings ended on 49 by Jadeja and leaving the wicketkeeper 13 shy of the record.

Alastair Cook made just 10 runs before edging Ravindra Jadeja to slip (AP)

Moeen, though, nailed his target to score a second hundred of the series following his 117 in the first Test. Along with Root, Bairstow and Cook, he became the fourth England batsman to pass 1,000 runs for the year, the first time that has occurred since 2006.

The tourists, 3-0 down in the series, will be pleased with their day’s work even though they only have pride to play for.

Whatever problems England have had on this trip they cannot claim bad luck after Cook won the toss for the fourth time out of five in this series.

Yet only in Rajkot have they managed to take advantage of their good fortune and dictate terms.

They appeared unlikely to do that here after slipping to 21 for two following the early losses of Keaton Jennings and Cook.

Ishant Sharma celebrates taking the wicket of Keaton Jennings for one run (AP)

Jennings followed up his first-innings century on debut in Mumbai with a duck in the second innings. The Durham opener at least made one this time before playing a loose shot outside off stump to Ishant Sharma, recalled by India for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the sixth over of the day.

Cook had become the 11th man to reach 11,000 Test runs when he scored two off the first ball of the day. He made just ten, though, before playing forward tentatively to Jadeja and edging to Kohli at slip.

It the fifth time in nine innings this series India’s left-arm spinner had dismissed Cook.

Things looked grim for the tourists at that point but Moeen and Root rallied to take their side into 68 for two at lunch.

Root reached his half-century early in the afternoon session, sweeping Jadeja for four through midwicket. But it was the same shot against the same bowler that would undo Root later in the session, the third-wicket stand terminated on 146 as England were reduced to 167 for three.

Moeen elected to take the attack to India and was rewarded with his fifth Test century (AP)

Root’s departure had brought Bairstow to the crease, his Yorkshire team-mate needing 62 runs to surpass Vaughan himself.

By tea, with England 182 for three, Bairstow had ten but Moeen was on 63 at the interval after reaching his 10th Test half-century. Bairstow was batting aggressively, the Yorkshireman smashing three sixes before he hit Jadeja straight to cover.