England make a stunning comeback to defeat India by 28 runs in first Test | Cricket

England staged a remarkable comeback in the first Test, defeating India by 28 runs and claiming a 1-0 lead in the series in Hyderabad. Ben Stokes‘ side, powered by Ollie Pope‘s majestic 196 and significant contributions from Rehan Ahmed and debutant Tom Hartley (adding 62 runs combined), set the home side a challenging target of 231. However, India’s batting lineup, who had adopted an aggressive approach in the first innings, surprisingly had a defensive stance and collapsed for 202 runs in 69.2 overs.

This unexpected batting collapse diverged from India’s previous innings, where the batters took on the English attack positively. In fact, all batters in the top-5 were dismissed while attempting a boundary; however, the sluggishness of the surface, combined with the pressure of the chase, played into England’s hands on Day 4. Debutant Tom Hartley shone with a five-wicket haul – eventually ending with figures of 7/62 – and Joe Root and Jack Leach picked a wicket each as the English side kickstarted the 2024 Test tour the same way it did in 2020/21.

This was the first time when India lost a Test match after taking over a 100-run lead in the first innings; the lead was close to the 200-run mark (190). However, Ollie Pope led England’s revival after a poor start to the visitor’s innings on Day 3. The right-handed batter, who had scored only 6 in the first innings, held one end as wickets continued to fall on the other before getting the much-needed support from Ben Foakes (34), Rehan Ahmed (28), and Tom Hartley (34). Pope eventually scored 196, falling short of a double century thanks to Jasprit Bumrah’s scorching delivery that castled his stumps. Bumrah was also the pick of the bowlers for India, taking 4 for 41, but the biggest revelation on the day was England’s Tom Hartley, who had a rather indifferent outing in the first innings.

Hartley struck the breakthrough in the 12th over of India’s run-chase when he dismissed the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal on 15. He picked Shubman Gill’s wicket in the same over, putting further pressure on the Indian youngster enduring a rough patch in the longest format of the game. Rohit Sharma had begun his innings with an attacking mindset, but Hartley trapped him leg-before merely five overs later, ending his knock at 39 off 58 balls.

Wickets fell regularly as India threw a surprise, promoting Axar Patel to no.5. The experiment failed as Axar fell on 17, while KL Rahul (22), too, failed to make a mark.

Things went further south when Ravindra Jadeja was run out for just two while Shreyas Iyer failed to impress again, handing an easy catch to slips at 13. Ravichandran Ashwin (28) and KS Bharat (28) did attempt to rebuild the innings and keep India alive in the run-chase, but their dismissals all but quashed the side’s hopes.