Hartley gives India Hyderabad Blues

England’s Tom Hartley (centre) celebrates Axar Patel’s wicket with teammates during Day Four of the first Test against India in Hyderabad yesterday. Pic/PTI

As turnarounds go, this will be hard to match. Outplayed for the first two days, England completed a stirring comeback at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, surging to a famous 28-run win in the first of five Tests against India. On their last tour too, in early 2021, England had won the first Test in Chennai on the back of skipper Joe Root's exceptional double century. India came back strongly to clinch the series 3-1, but this England team is made of greater spunk, with the attitude of a winner.

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Ollie Pope who had masterminded the resurgence on the third day with a magnificent century which finally ended on 196, and debutant Tom Hartley finished the demolition job late on the penultimate evening, finishing with seven wickets and ripping the heart out of the Indian batting. The left-arm spinner picked up the first four wickets as India's chase of 231 stuttered right from the outset. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal began promisingly enough, adding 42, but Jaiswal and Shubman Gill fell in the space of three deliveries to rock the hosts, blows they didn't recover from.

England had kicked off from 316 for six to extend their second innings to 420, exposing the ineffectiveness of the Indian spinners on a track that gave them not inconsiderable help. The overnight pair of Pope and Rehan Ahmed extended their seventh-wicket alliance to 64 when Jasprit Bumrah provided the breakthrough, but England were far from finished.

Hartley played handsome strokes and held his own during an eighth-wicket stand of 80, each run a dent in India's aspirations. By the time India ended the English innings, Pope's mastery had allowed them to add 104 more runs, leaving the hosts with a tricky chase. India's credentials as exceptional players of spin bowling have taken a hit in the last few years, and this latest meltdown was further reiteration of that fact. Rohit Sharma battled manfully while making 39, but it was left to the lower order to reduce the margin as the top order caved in.

At 95 for three at tea, with the promoted Axar Patel and KL Rahul in the middle of a rescue act, India looked on course but Axar fell in the first over on resumption, tamely driving Hartley back to him. That triggered a collapse of four for 24 in 65 deliveries, effectively sealing the outcome. The accurate Hartley got the ball to grip and turn, just like Joe Root and the injured Jack Leach, braving a knock to his left knee. They didn't do anything flash, but were consistent enough in asking probing questions.

KS Bharat and R Ashwin delayed the inevitable with a 57-run stand for the eighth wicket, but Hartley had Mohammed Siraj stumped off the second ball of the day's final over - England took the extra half hour to force the result - to leave the visitors in delirium and India red-faced.

Brief scores
England 246 & 316-6 (O Pope 196, B Duckett 47; J Bumrah 4-41, R Ashwin 3-126, R Jadeja 2-131) beat India 436 & 202 (R Sharma 39; T Hartley 7-62) by 28 runs