Hartley, Pope and Jaiswal: 10 key takeaways from India vs England 1st Test

England beat India by 28 runs as Bazball won the first battle on Indian shores. Here are the major talking points from the match in Hyderabad

England managed to beat India in India once again in the very first match of their tour to the country and it was their inexperienced spinners that did the trick for the tourists. India missed a lot of tricks in the match in Hyderabad too. Here are the top 10 key takeaways from the first Test between India and England. 

Hartley the hero

Tom Hartley, who went for 131 in his 25 overs in the first innings and picked up two wickets, was brilliant in the second innings as he got the first four wickets that fell in the Indian innings while they chased 231 for the win. 

It was Hartley’s efforts with the bat that did the debutant a lot of good as he scored 34 and added an important 80 runs with Ollie Pope for the eighth wicket.

He was also the partnership breaker when KS Bharat and Ravichandran Ashwin put together 56 for the eighth wicket. He got both of them and Mohammed Siraj to take seven wickets in the innings and finish the game with a kitty of nine wickets to his name. 

From the worst economy frate or a debutant in Tests to winning a Test match for his team and finishing with the fourth-best figures for an overseas bowler on debut in India, Hartley was the hero for England. 

Leach battles injury

Jack Leach walked into the match after recovering from an injury. However, while fielding in India's first innings, the left-arm spinner injured himself again and on the fourth day, walked to the field with a strapped and swollen left leg. He picked the wicket of Shreyas Iyer and bowled 10 overs in the second innings apart from coming out to bat to help Pope add a few more runs, although he was not required for long as Pope eventually got out in the very next over. 

Ollie Pope and the redemption

Pope, who was out for only one in the first innings, redeemed himself and how as he smashed 196 in the second innings in pure Bazball style to give England a chance to win the Test match. Pope reverse swept, Dil-Scooped and did everything possible to utilise the two chances he was given at 106 and 188 by Axar Patel and KL Rahul respectively to become the Englishman with the highest score in the third innings of a Test on Indian soil.

196 is also Pope’s maiden second innings hundred and his second-highest score in a 39-match long Test career. Thanks to these efforts of his, the 26-year-old was named the Player of the Match. 

Indian spinners reverse-swept

It would not be wrong to say that Indian spinners were reverse-swept from the game in the second innings. Ben Duckett and Zak Cralwy started it with the opening stand and Pope continued, adding reverse Dil Scoop to it as well. Even Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley utilised the reverse sweep to good effect as they put up match-winning stands of 112, 64 and 80 runs for the sixth, seventh and eighth wickets alongside Pope. 

The run out of Jadeja: Stoke’s captaincy

Ben Stokes was awesome with his captaincy, managing to use his spinners brilliantly. Learning from his first-innings mistake of playing with an all-out attacking field, Stokes kept an in-out field in the second innings and managed to keep the Indian batters in check. He was brilliant with his approach with the bat in the first innings, although in the second he failed to read the situation well and went into a shell. He scored 70 in the first and 6 in the second innings. 

However, the best part of Stokes’ play was the run-out that he inflicted upon Jadeja to get rid of him. It was a reverse flick, under-arm throw with which he managed to hit the stumps and get the wicket of Jadeja, who was found short of his crease. 

Jadeja the all-rounder

Ravindra Jadeja got run out in the second innings in an unfortunate manner as it was a freak throw from Stokes that would have otherwise missed the stumps 9 times out of 10. However, he was brilliant in the entire match, scoring 87 runs with the bat and taking five wickets.

Indian spinners walk the talk on Day 1

Though the Indian spinners were dominated in the second innings, they were right on the money on the first day of play as Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja sucked the air out of Bazball. It was only later in the day that Ben Stokes managed to score some runs and put England in a position of respectability. 

Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar took eight wickets between them as England were bowled out for 246. However, the wicket of Stokes was taken by Jasprit Bumrah. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal's Bazball

Yashasvi Jaiswal showed in the first innings what it meant to give Bazballers a taste of their own medicine as he hit a fifty in just 47 balls, He kept on attacking the English spinners before getting caught and bowled by Joe Root, which eventually changed the game. In the second innings too, Jaiswal was looking to unsettle the English spinner with attempted reverse sweeps and sweeps, before being caught at short leg on a check shot. 

Inexperienced ENG spinners deliver

The English spin attack of Leach, Hartley and Ahmed was called in-experienced and was doomed to fail. However, it was this attack only that later on was joined by the fourth spinner Joe Root which took all the 18 Indian wickets apart from the two run-outs. Root had five to his name while debutant Hartley took nine. Most experienced Leach could bowl only 36 overs, but he also picked up two wickets and so did Rehan. 

Root the bowler that changed the game

Joe Root bowled a total of 48 overs, the most he has ever bowled in a First-Class game. Let alone a Test match. He was in fact the most bowled bowler in the English first innings as the England number four doled out 29 overs and claimed four wickets which included two wickets on two balls to restrict India to 436. 

In the second innings too, the 33-year-old who had 60 Test wickets in 135 matches prior to this game, was brilliant. He took out a set KL Rahul and that totally shifted the momentum in England’s favour.