Hartley 7-fer fashions England’s famous win

In further vindication of England’s alternative (and aggressive) approach to Test cricket, Ben Stokes’s side secured a famous victory over India in Hyderabad on Sunday. England did so by overturning a first-innings deficit of 190 runs – second on the list of biggest deficits overturned to win a Test in India, behind India’s famous win over Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001. That this was India’s fourth defeat in 47 home Tests in 12 years establishes the extent of England’s achievement in the series opener.

England were closing in on their remarkable victory early in the final session, before the eighth-wicket pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and KS Bharat showed that there was more in this exceptional Test to ebb and flow. Tom Hartley however, stood tall in the dying moments of the final session to pull the game to England’s corner, finishing with a seven-wicket haul. He first broke the Ashwin-Bharat stand that lasted 21.4 overs and threatened to take the game away from the visitors, when he cleaned up Bharat.

Ben Stokes triggered the option of extending play by half-an-hour in search of the win. Straightaway, Hartley got his sixth when Ashwin gave him the charge and missed with a wild swing to get out stumped. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj lived dangerously, like a typical final-wicket pair would, and came agonizingly close to dragging the game to the final day. Hartley once again arrived – this time in the final over of the day – to lure Siraj into stepping out and getting stumped. With that, Hartley capped off his dream debut with figures 7 for 62 and gave England a 28-run victory.

Life post the Tea break began in circumspect fashion for India as they lost the two batters from the previous session very early. Axar Patel, who grew into the game towards the end of the middle phase, fell first off a tame caught and bowled dismissal, giving Tom Hartley his fourth wicket. Joe Root then trapped KL Rahul leg before off a ball that straightened from round the stumps.

India’s attempt to slowly recover via Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer was thwarted by a moment of brilliance from Ben Stokes when the former pushed a full toss from Root towards mid-on and dashed off for a quick single. The Indian batter was beaten by Stokes’s incredible effort that saw him dive to collect the ball, release it quickly with an underarm throw and hit the stumps directly.

India lost their fourth wicket of the session for the addition of just 24 runs since Tea when Jack Leach got Iyer to prod at a full ball angled into him and nick it to Root at first slip. From 119 for 7, Ashwin and Bharat arrested India’s freefall. The two navigated past the tough early stages when England played with a spring in their step and the real belief of taking a 1-0 lead in the series. However, all they could do was delay the eventuality.

In the morning session, England did a fine job of consolidating on all the defiance they put up on Day 3 from the precarious position of 163 for 5 when they still trailed India.Ollie Pope ignited the fire on Saturday evening and kept it burning on Sunday morning as he nearly got an incredible double-century. A feisty rear-guard effort from him and Hartley carried England forward with an 80-run stand that put India in a spot of bother. Hartley was adventurous in his 52-ball stay for 34 runs that pushed England to 420 and set India a tricky target of 231.

Hartley and Pope then combined once again to make early inroads, as Jaiswal was caught at forward short leg and Gill at silly point. Rohit Sharma tried to sweep and reverse-sweep his way out of trouble like Pope and the rest of the England batters, but was then dismissed leg before by Hartley with a ball that didn’t turn as much as the Indian captain anticipated.

India’s middle and lower-order failed to withstand the pressure that Stokes put them under with his proactive bowling changes and aggressive fields. The 20,000-odd crowd that turned up on each day of the Test was treated to a game for the ages, even as India eventually finished second best.

Brief scores:
England 246 (Ben Stokes 70; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-68, Ravindra Jadeja 3-88) and 420 (Ollie Pope 196, Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 4-41, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-126) beat India 436 (Ravindra Jadeja 87, KL Rahul 86, Yashasvi Jaiswal 80; ) and 202 (Rohit Sharma 39; Tom Hartley 7-62) by 28 runs