It was a match India ought to have won to give them a 1-0 lead against England in the five-match series. The 190-run first-innings advantage that India had was even an innings-defeat inflicting lead, especially for the kind of bowlers that India had in this opening Test in Hyderabad.
Instead, the hosts went down by 28 runs, being bowled out for 202 in pursuit of 231 in the fourth innings, handing the visitors the lead.
There was turn on the surface right from Day 1 but the turn became more prodigious as the match wore on. But, it was not turning like it would on a dust-bowl. A batsman who was playing only his fifth Test on Indian soil and eighth in the Asian sub-continent, gave lessons to the masters of batting in Indian conditions on how to score big and not just be satisfied with the half-centuries.
England’s vice-captain Ollie Pope, whose previous experience of playing in India was in 2020-21, highlighted the importance of converting fifties into big hundreds and not just hundreds.
India, for whom Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for 80, KL Rahul for 86 and Ravindra Jadeja for 87 in the first innings, ought to have posted a huge first innings total more than the 436 they posted. At least one of them, if not all, should have made it big. The choice of shot selections of the first five Indian batsmen in the first innings will need to be revisited. In the name of playing positive cricket, they gave catches while trying to pick boundaries.
And, India, with three match-winning spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel – let go of the first innings advantage. Nobody gave the inexperienced England spinners any chance in this series, let alone in this Test. Jack Leach is the only England spinner with the previous experience of playing in India. Debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley was brilliant in both the innings. Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed was one-Test old coming into this tour while part-time off-spinner Joe Root was the most successful in the first innings. England bowled to attacking fields and applied pressure on the Indians.
India allowed the England vice-captain Pope to score the fourth highest individual score by a visiting batsman in the second innings of a Test in this country. Without taking credit away from Pope, who played one of the best Test knocks by a visitor in India, Rohit Sharma and Co. let the game slip away at different points in the England second innings from Saturday morning till the time the first centurion of this series fell just before lunch on Day 4 on Sunday.
Pope has played a match-winning and series-defining innings that will give Sharma and Co sleepless nights in the next four Tests. Pope capitalised on the two lives he had when Axar Patel dropped him at short third on 110 on Day 3 afternoon and again on 186 when KL Rahul put down one at wide first slip off Mohammed Siraj on Sunday morning. That Pope’s 196 before being the last man out, missing a reverse hit against India’s best bowler Jasprit Bumrah and being bowled, alone outscored his team’s first innings deficit spoke immensely of the Indian team’s defensive approach.
There were phases in the game when India did not attack but set defensive fields. They were waiting for England to make mistakes and not force things to happen. Sharma and Co. did not behave like they were the bosses in their own home.
Sharma gave Patel the bowling ahead of Jadeja in England’s second essay and the Gujarat left-armer went for 40 runs in his opening five-over spell on Saturday. Again, when Pope and Ben Foakes were putting together their century-stand for the sixth wicket, Sharma did not give Bumrah, who bowled a brilliant spell post lunch that read 5-0-17-2, a short burst immediately on resumption after tea on Day 3. Bumrah was brought in a little later, by which time the pair was already blossoming.
On Sunday morning, Sharma did not take the second new ball when it was due after 80 overs, three overs into the day, and instead let Bumrah bowl a four-over spell with the old ball. Bumrah, as he often delivers even when conditions do not favour him, removed overnight batsman Ahmed as he played away from his body and the edge taken by wicketkeeper KS Bharat. Bumrah tried his best as the ball was reversing on Saturday evening. But Sharma did not show the same confidence in the other medium-pacer Siraj.
Sharma took the second new ball after Bumrah finished his first spell on Sunday. The shining red cherry was used by the spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and not even Md Siraj from one end. The localite was used for only 11 overs in this entire Test. Pope and Hartley, who can whack the ball well and get useful runs, quickly shared 80 for the eighth wicket, driving and lofting, using the hardness of the second new ball to great effect. There were no close-in catchers for the spinners except for Sharma at slip and the field was spread, allowing England to add 104 to their overnight lead of 126 in the entire morning session.
On the other hand, England skipper Ben Stokes was brilliant with his moves. He applied pressure on the Indian batsmen, having close-in catchers for most of the time when the spinners operated. Jaiswal and Gill even obliged during the run chase by giving Pope catches at forward short leg and silly point, respectively, off Hartley. As if the England bowlers taking wickets at regular intervals wasn’t enough, first innings top-scorer Jadeja ran himself out, courtesy Stokes’ brilliance. Jadeja drove Root full toss to mid-on and took off but was run out by a direct hit by Stokes, picking up and relaying the ball onto the stumps in one go.
There was a glimmer of hope with Ashwin and Bharat fighting it out with a 57-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Had Ashwin not stepped out when 44 were needed, and had Siraj not danced down the wicket in the last over of the extended half-an-hour as claimed by Stokes, India may still be battling for survival and taken the match into the final day on Monday.
It is for India’s benefit if they learn quickly from the mistakes and be more proactive than being reactive.
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