IND vs ENG 1st Test HIGHLIGHTS: England beat India by 28 runs in their five-match Test series opener at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad to go 1-0 up in the series. While India managed to take a 190-run first innings lead over the Three Lions, England staged a remarkable comeback led by Ollie Pope's 196 and Tom Hartley's seven-wicket haul to beat the hosts on Day 4. While India needed 231 to win in the fourth innings, Hartley's spell coupled with wickets from Joe Root and Jack Leach, meant India were bowled out for 202.
Debutant Hartley eventually finished with figures of 7/62, returning with wickets of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, KS Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj. The architect of England's famous away win dismissed Mohammed Siraj as the last Indian batter to get out as the Three Lions sealed a famous win for themselves.
India's Fourth Defeat At Home In 48 Tests
To put this result into perspective, this was only the fourth defeat for India at home in 48 Test matches. This also marks the biggest turnaround by a visiting team in India. After trailing by 190 runs after the first innings of both the teams ended, the touring party staged a remarkable comeback to emerge on top. This is the first time India have lost a Test at home after having taken a lead of over 100 runs.
Ollie Pope's innings assumes great significance. After getting out for just 1 in the first innings, Pope returned with an attacking approach, playing the sweeps and the reverse sweeps to tackle the Indian spinners. His innings was studded with 21 boundaries as it helped the visitors score runs briskly against an attack which would have otherwise gotten on top of them, like they did in the first innings.
Hartley's Contribution With Bowl And Bat
While debutant Hartley's contribution with the ball will be well-remembered, perhaps his lesser talked about but equally important contribution came with the bat as he scored 34 off 52, stitching a 80-run stand with Pope for the eighth wicket which completely demoralised the Indian side. This stand took England past 400 in the second innings and given the margin of India's defeat, had Hartley not chipped in with the bat or for that matter Rehan Ahmed (28) and Ben Foakes (34) lower down the order, things could have been different.
Axar Patel dropping Pope not long after he had got to a hundred and Ravindra Jadeja's run out in the second innings, courtesy off an off-balance throw from Ben Stokes, were other significant turnring points of the match.
The two teams will now square off in the second Test at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam beginning on February 2.