India vs England: Bazballers script come-from-behind win for the ages
The hushed silence from the locals and the increasing decibel levels of the Barmy Army’s lead trumpeter from the east stand at the fall of every Indian wicket in Hyderabad sounded like a death knell for the hosts. If they needed a wake-up call about the enormous task that lies ahead of them to bring the Bazballers from England down, Sunday provided them with plenty.
Having watched haplessly as England recovered from conceding a 190-run lead and set a target of 231 to win the first Test, India fell short by 28 runs. After Ollie Pope’s game-changing 196 with the bat that set the tone, debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley (7/62) ran through India’s batting line-up to bag only the second five-wicket haul of his first-class career.
Like in 2021, when they began the Test series with a win, England have started on a similar note this time, but the road to recovery isn’t going to be easy for India.
This being only India’s fourth Test loss at home since 2013 may not sound alarming. But three of them have come after the advent of the pandemic, and two in their last three home Tests. And as they head to Visakhapatnam seeking a quick turnaround, India have plenty of concerns to address with Ravindra Jadeja heading back clutching his hamstring being a major worry. For a team that is already missing Virat Kohli, not having Jadeja as well could only add to their trouble with the bat, more so because of how brittle this batting order looked in the second innings.
Just absolute scenes 😍
🇮🇳 #INDvENG 🏴 | #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/qamsNLn96z
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 28, 2024
From the moment England extended their lead to 230 in the first session on Day 4, with Pope being the final wicket to fall at the stroke of lunch, India had a stiff challenge to overcome. Although the pitch had undergone the usual wear and tear that one associated with a Day 4 track, it was by no means one filled with demons. With an inexperienced attack to face, especially the spinners, all that India had to do with the bat was put them under early pressure like they did in the first innings en route to 436. Instead of being pragmatic with their approach, they were a bit tentative to start with, which played into the hands of England’s spinners as they scripted a win that would be part of Bazball’s proud legacy.
“To be honest, 230 was a pretty challenging score on this wicket in the fourth innings,” head coach Rahul Dravid said. “It’s always going to be challenging in India to score 231. Today the pitch was turning and we probably shouldn’t be chasing 231. A truly exceptional innings got us to chase that many. To me, that really was the difference in the game. In fact, if anything, I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings. When conditions were pretty good to bat on Day Two, in those kinds of situations, we got ourselves some good starts but didn’t really capitalise and get 100s.”
Difference in approach
While India’s spinners seldom attacked the stumps and let England dictate the pace, it wasn’t the case with Hartley, Jack Leach, Joe Root and Rehan Ahmed. Shortly before India’s second innings began, during the lunch break, all four went about attacking the stumps in the practice nets, giving enough glimpse of what their plans were. On a slow track, with the odd ball keeping low, especially from the low patches on the full-length area, their plan was rather simple: attack the stumps as much as possible and let the natural variation do the trick with some assistance from the track.
While the need of the hour was a few aggressive, calculated risks to disrupt their rhythm, India’s batsmen mostly played them from the crease. It meant that when the ball turned sharply or kept low, they had very little time to adjust. On such pitches, using the feet and taking long strides tend to make a difference, more so against this attack which bowled plenty of boundary balls every over in the first innings. If Indian openers’ aggressive approach on Day 1 caught England by surprise, on Day 4 shelving the same undid their own cause. Maybe, the recent collapses in South Africa led them to be a bit more cautious here, but in home conditions and on tracks that they have all grown up playing on, this approach was combustible.
If their top five were all dismissed going for aggressive shots in the first innings, in the second innings, they were adjudged LBW or caught by close-in fielders. It is the result they paid for being tentative and not being authoritative.
Letting the game drift
Having let England take a 126-run lead on Day 3, India let them dictate the pace on the fourth morning as well. It was a session when, despite taking the second new ball, India’s attack lacked the bite it is known for in these conditions. The intent and the aggression that this team had shown in the past was hardly in sight here as England managed to stretch their lead beyond 200.
And when India’s innings began, it was once again Pope who played a part, coming up with two special catches at short-leg and silly point off the bowling off Hartley in the 12th over. While 231 was definitely a manageable target given the batting depth India have in their ranks, losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in one over opened the door for England. From there on, Hartley and England were all over them.
Six overs later, Rohit fell LBW to Hartley, a price he paid for playing for the turn when there was not much on offer. With the debutant spinner all over them, India would respond by promoting Axar Patel to No.5. It seemed every bit an inspired move as for the first time in the afternoon, KL Rahul and Axar looked in control, knocking off runs with minimal risk as India took tea at 95/3.
But in the first over of the third session, Axar played a loose shot, giving Hartley a return catch. And in the next 10 overs, India would lose Rahul, Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer as they slipped to 119/7, another mini-collapse in the least threatening conditions of all.
From there on, Ravichandran Ashwin and KS Bharat delayed the inevitable, before Hartley completed the job he started in the extended final session with Mohmmed Siraj falling at 5.30 pm amidst lengthening evening shadows.
