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Heads dropped. Grim faces ruled the Indian dressing room. Despite the noise by a sizeable England contingent, an uneasy silence from the Indian fans ruled the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad.
The writing was on the wall when Ravichandran Ashwin missed an almighty heave after charging down the track to Tom Hartley or maybe even before that. The last wicket was a mere formality and although Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah added 25 runs, India fell short of the target. England won the first Test by 28 runs to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
This is not the first time England took a 1-0 lead in India. They did that even on their last tour in 2021. But this win, described as one of the best in his captaincy tenure by Ben Stokes, would rank higher. The reason is simple. India dominated proceedings for the first two days. They got a lead of 190 after the end of the first innings of the both teams. When they get into a position like that, they don’t lose. Never, ever.
But as they say, there is always a first time for everything. And for India, this Sunday, another one of those days.
India break 91-year-old record
This was the first time in the 91-year history of Test cricket in India that they lost a match after taking a first-innings lead of more than 100 runs. In fact, this was only the second time a team won after conceding such a big lead. The last time it happened was when India beat Australia after conceding a follow-on (a lead of 274 runs) in that famous Eden Gardens Test in 2001.
The previous best by a visiting team in terms of whipping out the first innings lead to win dates way back to 1964 when Australia beat India in Chennai despite conceding a 65-run first-inning lead.
This loss also ranks second in the overall list of highest first innings lead resulting in a defeat for India after the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2015 where they came second even after taking a 192-run lead.
This was the fifth instance where India lost a Test at home after putting up more than 400 runs on the board. India scored 436 in their reply to England’s 236. This is the second-highest first innings total for India at home resulting in a loss. The highest was 449 against Pakistan in Bengaluru.
Chasing 231 for victory, India were bowled out for 202 in the final over of an extended third session of play on the fourth day in Hyderabad, as Hartley got Mohammed Siraj stumped with his left-arm spin to trigger celebrations from the England camp.
Pope stood out with his 196 to bring England bouncing back from being 190 behind at the start of their second innings to lead the five-match series 1-0.
Hartley, who got his five-wicket haul after he bowled wicketkeeper-batsman K.S. Bharat, kept coming back to return figures of 7-62 and a match tally of nine wickets.
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