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After Ollie Pope's blitzkrieg, debutant Tom Hartley's spin inspired England to a 28-run victory in the opening Test against India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.
After Pope's 196 inspired England's hopes of an unprecedented comeback, debutant Tom Hartley's magic with the ball on Day 4 did the trick for the visitors. The slow left-arm orthodox spinner made most of the surface that kept low. He tried to use the rough to produce uneven bounce and sharp spin to cause all sorts of trouble to India batters. After making early inroads, Hartley continued to ride high on confidence and made an immediate impact after the beginning of the third session. India's gamble of sending Axar Patel to fifth spot didn't yield the expected results. A momentary lapse in Axar's concentration saw him send the ball straight to Hartley's hands, forcing him to depart for 17. Root came in, spun the ball sharply into KL Rahul and trapped him right in front of the stumps. The 31-year-old decided to challenge the on-field decision, but with three reds popping up on the screen, Rahul's time on the field ended with a score of 22. Within 30 minutes, the Hyderabad crowd fell into silence, with first innings hero, Ravindra Jadeja failing to get past the crease following Ben Stokes's remarkable effort in the field. England for the first time took control of the game taking the fourth wicket of the session while spilling away just 24 runs. Jack Leach was introduced into the attack and with a flighted delivery he forced out a massive outside edge from Iyer to completely turn around the game in favour of the visitors. Bharat and Ashwin showed resilience, grit and determination to scrape out a win. They drove India's innings, each run raised the hope of spectators. Hartley once again took the onus of providing the breakthrough. He breached Bharat's defence (28), ending a sturdy 570-run stand. A couple of overs later, Ashwin (28) was caught while trying to step out of his crease. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj combined to play a couple of shots, reigniting the spark in the crowd as they drove India close to an unprecedented victory. The crowd became jubilant and cheered on each single as the target slowly came down. In the final over of the day, Siraj came shuffling down the crease, got beaten by Hartley's pace and ended India's second innings on 202. Hartley who had a dream run with the ball, ended the second innings with figures of 7-72. Earlier in the Test, after winning the toss, England decided to bat but struggled to deal with India's spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja. The spinner restricted England to 246. In reply, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal led India to a total of 436. After India dominated the initial proceedings, Pope in reply, came out with his reverse sweep shot to shift the tides in favour of England and build the platform for their remarkable victory. Brief Score: England 246 & 420 (Ollie Pope 196, Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 4-41) vs India 436 & 202 (Rohit Sharma 39; Tom Hartley 7-62). (ANI)
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