England won the 1st Test in Hyderabad despite conceding a 190-run lead in 1st innings.
This came after England recorded a brilliant 28-run win in the first Test in Hyderabad despite conceding a 190-run lead in the first innings. But in the second do, Ollie Pope scored 196, giving India a target of 231 runs, and then Tom Hartley picked 7/62 on his Test debut to rout India for 202 all out.
This isn’t the first time India lost the first Test of a series, it happened in 2017 against Australia in Pune and 2021 against England in Chennai. But India ended up winning both the Test series comfortably.
But Monty Panesar feels England can blank India 5-0 provided Ollie Pope and Hartley can produce a repeat of their first Test exploits in the remaining four Tests.
"If Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley continue to play like this it will be a whitewash, it will be 5-0 for England. It can happen. It is a very big victory, no one even imagined this was even possible. Everyone thought that England would lose after a 190 deficit but Ollie Pope had a brilliant inning one of the best innings we have seen in a long time and Rohit Sharma was clueless," Panesar told ANI.
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Monty Panesar’s prediction of England winning 5-0 sounded similar to what Mark Waugh said when India visited Australia in 2020-21 for a four-Test series. India lost the first Test in Adelaide, a pink-ball game after they were bowled out for 36 in the second innings.
After that match, Mark Waugh Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, and several former Australia cricketers gave India no chance of winning any match. But India bounced back by winning the Melbourne Test, drew the Test in Sydney, and then Rishabh Pant’s heroics got India a huge win in Brisbane, to pocket the series 2-1.
The Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam has hosted two Tests – against England in 2016 and South Africa in 2019. And in both matches, the spinners have ruled the roost.