After an astonishing 28-run victory against India in the first Test in Hyderabad, one sealed by the debutant Tom Hartley’s stellar seven-wicket haul, Ben Stokes was in no doubt: this was England’s finest performance in his two years as captain.
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It was impossible to quibble, given both India’s 11-year run of dominance at home and the attack that got them there. This was England’s 14th win from 19 under Stokes and his head coach, Brendon McCullum, set up by Ollie Pope’s 196 with the bat before Hartley rolled India for 202 all out, having been set 231 in the fourth innings.
“This is definitely the No 1 win since I have been captain,” Stokes said. “We’ve been part of some amazing games, had some incredible victories. But considering where we are and who we were playing against, the position we found ourselves going into our second innings, I feel this is our best since I’ve been captain; our greatest triumph.”
The position mentioned was perilous, England 190 runs behind India at the midway point of the match and then staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat when they stumbled to 163 for five. But for Pope, marshalling the lower order to put 420 all out on the board by lunch on the fourth day, India would have been the side 1-0 up.
Stokes said: “I have been lucky enough to play a lot of Tests in the subcontinent with Joe Root and seen some special innings from him but I think the situation we found ourselves in, some of the shots he played – that for me that is the greatest innings that has ever been played by an English batter in India.”
While Pope changed the direction of travel, it was Hartley who took England home after lunch on the fourth day. Despite a mauling on the first evening– one that saw Stokes persist, to the detriment of his runs column – and Jack Leach’s struggle with a knee injury, the 24-year-old Lancashire left-armer stepped up for his captain.
“It didn’t go how he wanted [on day one] but I was committed to giving him that long spell,” Stokes said. “Whether or not that is a big reason he’s got seven-for I don’t know. It is just a lesson to quite a lot of people that if you are saying stuff to people and want them to believe in it, you have really got to back it up by your actions.
“It is my first time as captain in India. I may not seem it but I am a great observer of the game. I learned a lot from our first innings in the field, and from how the Indian spinners operated, and tried to take a lot of that into the second innings. I am absolutely thrilled. Hartley on debut taking nine wickets [in the match], Ollie Pope’s first game back after surgery. It has been an incredible effort by everyone.”
Stokes was similarly returning after an operation, with the left knee that went under the knife before Christmas passing its first significant test. This included his run-out of the dangerous Ravindra Jadeja on the fourth evening, Stokes sprinting, diving and ultimately nailing the stumps with a remarkable reverse flicked throw.
Jadeja could well emerge as a doubt for the second Test that starts in Visakhapatnam on Friday, having felt his hamstring on the way off. Similarly Leach is likely to be struggling despite bowling through the pain of a haematoma in his left knee and delivering one breakthrough during the denouement.
Shoaib Bashir has at least arrived in the country in reserve, the 20-year-old Somerset spinner joining England on Sunday following his drawn-out visa complications.
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