England secured one of their greatest-ever Test victories with Tom Hartley’s seven-wicket haul on debut following Ollie Pope’s divine 196 as the tourists completed an extraordinary 28-run win over India in the first Test at Hyderabad.
The tourists looked on the brink of defeat on the third afternoon when they slumped to 163-5 in their second innings and still trailed by 27, but Pope and Hartley engineered a stunning revival.
India were eventually bowled out for 202 chasing 231 as Hartley had last man Mohammed Siraj (12) stumped by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes in the dying embers of day four, ending with 7-62 from 26.2 overs having been creamed for 2-131 from 25 in the first innings.
Pope was last out on the fourth morning having helped his side from a perilous position to 420 all out, adding 80 with Hartley (34) for the eighth wicket after England resumed on 316-6 leading by 126.
Hartley then removed four of India’s top five, including Rohit Sharma (39) lbw, as the hosts slumped to 119-7 before he returned to snap a 58-run stand between KS Bharat (28) and Ravichandran Ashwin (28) that had dragged India to within 55 runs of victory.
Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah (6no) threatened to take the game into a fifth day, adding 25 for the last wicket, but Hartley had the final say as England clinched a staggering turnaround.
England stun India after making history
The magnitude of England’s victory cannot be overstated.
Never before had India lost a Test at home in which they had led by 100 runs or more on first innings – their advantage here was 190 after countering England’s 246 with 436 – while Hartley suffered a chastening first innings, with his first and fifth balls smashed for six en route to eye-watering figures.
Pope, dropped on 110 by Axar Patel and 186 by KL Rahul, hit England’s highest second-innings score in India, after Sir Alastair Cook’s 176 in Ahmedabad in 2012, showing composure in defence and innovation in attack during a 112-run stand with Foakes (34) for the sixth wicket and half-century alliances with Hartley and Rehan Ahmed (28).
Hartley, perhaps buoyed by his runs with the bat, then recovered from his beastly first-innings with the ball, stepping up with senior spinner Jack Leach hampered by a bruised left knee.
The left-armer combined with Pope once again in the 12th over of the chase as the latter caught Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) and Shubman Gill (0) at short leg and silly point respectively before trapping Rohit lbw and pouching Axar (17) off his own bowling.
Ollie Pope followed his 196 with the bat by taking two sharp catches up close to the wicket off Hartley
Captain Ben Stokes – a man who has fostered a never-beaten ethos in this England team since taking over in 2022 – played his part, too.
He sensationally ran out Ravindra Jadeja (2) with a reverse underarm flick, showing tremendous athleticism months after knee surgery, while he was then rewarded for a bowling change when Leach nicked off Shreyas Iyer (13) with the second ball of his spell.
England move ahead in five-match series
England will head to Vizag for Friday’s second Test brimming with confidence, having inflicted just a fourth home defeat in 47 matches on India, who have won their previous 16 home series since going down 2-1 to Cook’s tourists in late 2012.
England showed skill and guts to fight back in this game, with the victory surely rivalling any in their history and secured thanks to contributions from a batter in Pope playing his first match since June after a shoulder dislocation and a novice bowler in Hartley.
Pope’s knock was the highest by an Englishman in the second innings of a Test match in India
Pope managed more runs in his second-innings century than he did across eight knocks on the 2021 tour of India, when he limped to 153 runs at an average of 19.12 with a top score of 34 as England lost 3-1.
Vice-captain Pope was skittish first time around in Hyderabad, making one from 11 balls, but sublime in the second after overcoming a nervy start, with sweeps, reverse sweeps and reverse scoops taking him to a fifth Test century and past 150 for the second time.
Pope was unable to notch his second, after his 205 against Ireland last summer, falling four runs short as he was bowled on the reverse scoop by Bumrah (4-41) – but his efforts ensured England added 104 runs to their overnight total, in just 25.1 overs.
Bumrah had earlier nicked off the enterprising Rehan, snapping a stand of 64 with Pope, while Ashwin bowled Hartley with a grubber before Jadeja had Mark Wood caught behind for a duck.
Wood was denied the wicket of Rohit early in the chase as Zak Crawley dropped him on five at slip but it did not matter in the end.