Joe Root is Ben Stokes' 3rd or 4th spinner, he's operating with slender resources in India.."- Michael Atherton
Published - 29 Jan 2024, 12:21 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 10:23 AM
Former captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton called England’s win in the Hyderabad Tets the greatest win of the “Bazball era”. England who were on the backfoot in the first innings made a resounding comeback to win the match by 28 runs in the end.
England after scoring 420 in their second innings on the back of Ollie Pope’s mammoth 196 set India a target of 231 runs to win the first Test. Pope added crucial partnerships with Ben Foakes (34), Rehan Ahmed (28), and debutant Tom Hartley (34) to take England to a sizeable second-innings total.
1231 seemed a reasonably easy target for India but their much-famed batting lineup was tested by the England spinners. India batted with an ultra-defensive approach in their second innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the first wicket to fall in the second innings and since then it was a procession of wickets. Hartley took four of the first five wickets to fall for India.
India at one point were 119/7 still needing 111 runs to win the Test match. From that point on KS Bharat (28) and Ravichandran Ashwin (28) had a 57-run stand that took India to 176. Bharat was then dismissed by Hartley with a peach of a delivery. Ashwin was dismissed in the very next over after Bharat’s dismissal as India were down to 177/9.
Mohammed Siraj (12 off 20) and Jasprit Bumrah (6* off 18) then added 25 together to give India a flicker of hope. However, Hartley took the final wicket as he got Siraj stumped to pull off a memorable victory.
England had limited resources in terms of bowlers after Jack Leach picked up a knee injury. With the pitch spinning Mark Wood was not used at all as the visitors operated with Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, and Joe Root. Hartley, the left-arm spinner who had a tough first innings made up for it in the second innings as he took 7/62 in 26 overs to win the game for England and pick up the Men of the Match award.
Greatest Win Of Bazball Era: Michael Atherton
Michael Atherton while interacting with Nasser Hussain for Sky Sports Cricket termed this win as England’s greatest win of the “Bazball era”.
“This is undeniably the greatest win of the Bazball era” ⚡
Athers on England’s historic Test win against India 🇮🇳
“Just listen to Ben Stokes he said that this was the greatest win of his captain. We were both in Pakistan, and we saw some unbelievable wins there that special win in Rawalpindi. But I think this is undeniably the greatest win of the Bazball era” said Michael Atherton.
“The issues that they had I mean Leach with his knee injury could not bowl very much. So Ben Stokes had to depend on Tom Hatley a rookie debutant who had a tough first innings, written off in some quarters, and Rehan Ahmed, again a rookie leg spinner who struggled a bit with the ball. Root really is his kind of third or fourth spinner one seamer Mark Wood, so slender-ish resources to work with” Michael Atherton added further.
Meanwhile, India have dropped to the fifth position on the WTC 2023-25 points table after the loss in the first Test. England are still placed eighth on the table but gained some crucial points. India also have injury concerns ahead of the second Test in Rajkot with Ravindra Jadeja picking up a hamstring injury in the first Test after he was run out by Ben Stokes. He was visibly uncomfortable while returning and is uncertain about the second test as per reports.
Also Read: Horrible! India achieve shameful record post 28-run defeat vs England in Hyderabad
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England National Cricket Team England tour of India 2024 IND vs ENG 2024 India National Cricket Team Michael Atherton Nasser Hussain
