England pulled off a historic 28-run victory from the jaws of defeat in the opening Test against India in Hyderabad on Sunday (January 28).
After conceding a significant first-innings lead of 190 runs, the visitors were in dire straits at 165/5 during their second essay. However, Ollie Pope stepped up to the plate under immense pressure, slamming 196 to propel England to 420, setting a stiff target of 231 for India.
Chasing the target, the home side capitulated to be bowled out for 202 in 69.2 overs. It was a listless batting display as no one managed to score a half-century.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, England skipper Ben Stokes described the Hyderabad Test win as their "greatest triumph" since he took over as captain.
Under the regime of Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the Three Lions have won 14 of their 19 Tests, which includes wins over New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Australia.
"Since I've taken the captaincy on, we've had a lot of fantastic moments as a team," Stokes said at the post-match presentation. "We've had a lot of great victories, we've been involved in some amazing games. But I think [with] where we are and who we're playing against, this victory is 100%, definitely our greatest triumph since I've been captain."
Tom Hartley, who was playing his debut Test in Hyderabad, starred with the ball for England on the penultimate day. The left-arm spinner ran through the Indian batting line-up in the second innings, returning with a seven-wicket haul (7/62).
Hartley’s transformation was quite extraordinary after he took a mauling in India’s first innings, taking two wickets by conceding 131 runs in his 25 overs.
"The gameplan there is, we're out here for a long tour and this is going to be a long game, so I was willing to give him the longer spell regardless of what had happened because I knew I was going to have to turn back to him at some point throughout this Test match," Stokes said. "Allowing him to have the longer spell at the start was almost justification to say: 'You know, what I was telling you before the game started is going to happen.'
“Whether or not that was the reason to say he got seven wickets and won us the game this innings, who knows? But that was the thought process behind it and giving the people we select complete backing and not going back on the words that we speak.”
Stokes also opened up on the lessons he learnt by watching Rohit Sharma's captaincy of India's three spinners - R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel.
"It's my first time coming out here and being in charge of a team and being a captain in these conditions," the England captain said. "I'm not going to lie - I actually may not seem it - but I'm a great observer of the game. I learned a lot from our first innings in the field.
"I watched a lot of how the Indian spinners operate in the field and the fields that Rohit set, and tried to take a lot of that into our innings here when we obviously had to bowl them out. I'm thrilled for everyone involved… it's been an incredible effort by everyone, and even the people who might not necessarily have the rewards. I think everyone's contributed to a great win."
Ben Stokes hailed Ollie Pope's second-innings 196 as the greatest knock he has seen by an English batter in the subcontinent.
"I've been lucky enough to play a lot of Test matches in the subcontinent with a certain Joe Root, and I've seen some pretty special innings from himself.
"But I think the situation we found ourselves in, coming in at No. 3, some of the shots that we've seen, just that whole innings, 190 on such a difficult wicket. He was able to manipulate the field with his sweep shots - reverse sweeps, normal sweeps - and the way he was able to rotate the strike… for me, I think that's the greatest innings that's ever been played in the subcontinent by an English batsman."
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
