Watch: Tom Hartley's peach dismantles clueless KS Bharat's stumps

It was a dream debut for England left-arm spinner Tom Hartley as he picked up 7 wickets in the first IND vs ENG Test match in Hyderabad. Indian batsman KS Bharat became his 5th victim and was dismissed for 28 runs from 59 balls. On the first ball of the 62nd over, when a length ball from Hartley pitched in the line of the stumps and went on to hit his off stump. Bharat was baffled as the ball past his defence and he lost his off stump.

Soon after KS Bharat’s dismissal, Ravichandran Ashwin became the sixth victim of Tom Hartley and was dismissed after scoring 28 runs. India were nine down for a score of 177 runs, and then the spinner picked one more wicket as England registered a famous victory against the Asian giants.

Watch: KS Bharat left baffled with Tom Hartley’s brilliant delivery

A fifer 🖐 on debut

Tom hardly put a foot wrong as he brings the visitors to the brink of victory 🎉#INDvsENG #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled pic.twitter.com/toBszaZ8yM

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 28, 2024

India started well when openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 42 runs for the first wicket. However, Jaiswal was dismissed for 15 runs and he was soon followed by Shubman Gill, who wasted yet another and walked back to the dressing room after scoring a duck.

Indian batsmen KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma added 21 runs for the 3rd wicket, but in an attempt to attack, Rohit was dismissed after scoring 39 runs from 58 balls. Axar Patel and KL Rahul also did not do much, walking off the field having scored 17 and 22 runs, respectively. After failing once more, Shreyas Iyer left the field after scoring 13 runs.

At last, Tom Hartley wrapped up the Indian innings for 202 runs and ended the match by picking up 9 wickets.

Ollie Pope, an England batsman, put the Indian side on the back foot with a brilliant 196-run innings that also pulled his team back into the game. After being dismissed by Indian wicketkeeper KL Rahul at 186 runs, Pope failed to capitalize on the lost opportunity and could not reach his double century.

To become the fourth batsman to accumulate the most runs by a visiting batsman in the second innings, Ollie Pope overtook Pakistani opener Saeed Anwar. Andy Flower, the legendary batsman from Zimbabwe, tops the list with 232* runs against India.

Throughout the first innings, England’s batting order struggled mightily and were wrapped up for 246 runs. Indian spinners destroyed the backbone of the English batting lineup with eight wickets between them.

England were clearly on the back foot following India’s impressive batting performance in the first innings, but Ollie Pope was the one who turned things around for his side.

England’s win in the first Test was a big setback for the Indian team as this was the first time after 12 years that India have lost a Test match in Hyderabad.

The match will also have a deep effect on the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 standings wherein the Indian cricket team have moved to the fifth position whereas England are in the eighth spot

The second Test match of the series is set to be played from February 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.