In the first Test match at Hyderabad, Ben Stokes ( Ben Stokes There’s no doubt about it: this was England’s best performance in two years as captain.
It’s impossible to quibble, given India’s 11-year dominance at home and the attacks that got them there. It was England’s 14th win in 19 games under Stokes and his manager Brendan McCullum, with Ollie Pope scoring 196 with the bat and then Hartley dismissed India for 202 and the home team won by 231 in the fourth innings.
“This is definitely my first win as captain,” Stokes said. “We had some great games and had some unbelievable wins. But given where we were, who we were playing, where we were going into the second game, I felt like I was captain. Our best result since; our biggest victory.”
The situation mentioned was dangerous, with England trailing India by 190 midway through the match and then facing a crushing defeat when they managed just 163 for five. Without Pope, who moved the lower order to 420 players before lunch on day four, India would have led 1-0.
Stokes said: “I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of Tests with Joe Root in the subcontinent and have seen some of his special innings, but I think the situation we were in, some of the shots he played – for me Say this is the greatest innings an English batsman has ever played in India.”
Hartley took England home after lunch on day four when Pope changed direction. Despite suffering a serious injury on night one – Stokes held on, which damaged his run column – and Jack Leach also battling a knee injury, the 24-year-old Lancashire The summer southpaw still stepped up and stood up for his captain.
“Things didn’t go as he wanted. [on day one] But I’m determined to keep him here long-term,” Stokes said. “Whether that’s a big reason why he got seven points – I don’t know. It’s a lesson to a lot of people that if you say something to people and you want them to believe it, you really have to back it up with your actions it.
“This is my first time captaining India. I may not think so, but I am a good observer of the game. I learned a lot from the first innings and the way the Indian spin team operates and tried to do that in the second Learned a lot in the game.
“I’m very excited. Hartley took nine wickets on debut [in the match]Ollie Pope’s first game back after surgery. It was an incredible effort from everyone. “
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Stokes is also recovering from surgery and has passed the first major test of his left knee, which was operated on just before Christmas. That included the fourth night when he bowled out the dangerous Ravindra Jadeja, with Stokes sprinting, diving and eventually hitting the stumps with a brilliant reverse throw.
Jadeja is likely to be a doubt for the second Test starting in Visakhapatnam on Friday as he felt a hamstring injury during the game. Likewise, although Leach was playing through a hematoma in his left knee and had a breakaway in the finale, he will likely be in trouble.
Shoaib Bashir has arrived in the country at least as a replacement, with the 20-year-old Somerset spinner joining England on Sunday after enduring a protracted visa trouble.
