ENG vs IND 2018, First Test: Kevin Pietersen Hails Thrilling Edgbaston Test
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen hailed the thrilling first Test between India and England.
At a time when Test cricket is fighting for its survival, England and India played out a game that is bound to do a world of good for the game’s popularity. The recently-concluded first Test at Edgbaston kept the cricketing world on their toes throughout before England managed to win the thriller.
India needed 84 runs to win the game while England needed 5 wickets. It was the hosts who started the proceedings on a good note. Their pace spearhead jolted India by dismissing Dinesh Karthik in the very first over of the day. But Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya did not let England take command of the proceedings.
The two took some time to settle down. However, once they had their eyes set, they hit a flurry of boundaries to ease the pressure. Pandya hit Stuart Broad for three boundaries in two overs to take the pressure off his skipper.
On the other end, Kohli was looking as classy as ever. He was leaving the balls outside the off and was pouncing on the lose balls to keep India in contention. The 29-year old then reached his fifty when he hit Anderson for a four.
But just when it looked, India would go on to win the game, Joe Root introduced Ben Stokes into the attack. And the allrounder turned the game on its head by taking two wickets including the prized scalp of Kohli to put England well on top and leave India reeling at 141 for 8.
Pandya, however, kept India in contention for a while in company of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. But before the allrounder could take India closer to the win, Stokes once again proved his mettle. The English star forced Pandya to edge one behind as England beat India by 31 runs to win a classic.
The result would be a tough pill to swallow for many fans but it was a perfect advertisement for Test cricket and Pietersen’s tweet perfectly summed it up. The former England batsman took to Twitter to hail the game, writing:
“#TestCricket – enough said!”
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Kevin Pietersen
