Left Arm Around

Ollie Pope struck 196 and Tom Hartley took seven as England claimed a nail-biting 28 run win over India in the dying moments of day four in Hyderabad.

Beginning the day 316-6, England added 104 runs to their overnight score to finish 420 all-out- Ollie Pope falling four short of a deserved double hundred.

Pope’s knock of 196- a record by an English batter in a second innings in India- was well supported by Rehan Ahmed’s 28 and a counter-attacking 34 by hero Hartley.

This is the first time in history India have lost a Test at home after securing a lead of over 100 on first innings, a staggering stat that only serves to highlight how good England were to win facing a deficit of 190.

Set 231 to win, a difficult yet very achievable target on a tired surface, India came up short on 202 all-out as debutant spinner Hartley finished with 7-62 and silenced a shellshocked home crowd.

Their chase began well as captain Rohit Sharma and first innings hero Yashasvi Jaiswal combined for 45, but Hartley was much improved from the start as he removed Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in the space of three balls- both courtesy of stunning Ollie Pope catches around the bat.

Rohit Sharma soon followed for 39 as Hartley pinned him LBW for his third, before the promoted Axar Patel granted Hartley another when he softly spooned one back shortly after the tea break.

The increasingly important Joe Root removed the in-form KL Rahul with a delivery that spun sharply from around the wicket, however it was the sheer brilliance of Stokes’ fielding that allowed them to dream and left many mere mortals in awe.

As Ravindra Jadeja mistimed a Root full-toss and scampered for a quick single, England’s captain collected, rolled and reverse flicked the ball in one rapid motion to hit the stumps and leave Jadeja well short of his ground.

When Jack Leach induced a Shreyas Iyer and Root snaffled a simple catch, India’s challenge looked all but done at 119-7- still 112 runs shy of victory.

But a hallmark of India’s quality and the fact they rarely lose at home is depth in batting.

With a mixture of dogged defence and calculated attack, wicket-keeper KS Bharat and the underrated Ashwin carefully added 57 in almost 22 overs to take the hosts within 55 of victory.

Then, within a matter of balls, the match was all but over as a Hartley beauty crashed into Bharat’s off-stump and Ashwin was dramatically stumped in his next over.

Siraj and Bumrah ramped up the tension to combine for a quick-fire 25, but England would not be denied a famous win as Siraj raced down the pitch to Hartley and was easily stumped by Foakes.

After all the criticism of the tourists on day 2, it’s safe to say plenty will be eating a slice of humble pie.

Who said Test cricket was dying?

What’s next?

India will look to bounce back and level the five-march series in the second Test match at Visakhapatnam next week.