Ben Stokes’ lively spell in the first two hours was enough to dismantle the Indian lower-order batsmen. India started the day with 84 runs to chase, but eventually fell short by 31 runs as a collapse in the lower-order allowed England to grab a good hold over the proceedings.

Dinesh Karthik departed in the first over of the day, as he nicked a James Anderson delivery to Dawid Malan on the second slip. Hardik Pandya arrived on the crease, to accompany captain Virat Kohli and both of them looked to be in control of the game.

As the game started swinging in India’s favor, Kohli was dismissed LBW by Stokes. However, the captain reviewed the decision, it turned out to be unsuccessful and accordingly India’s hopes of reviving their fortunes took a major hit.

Pandya played some timely strokes, and looked to thread gaps with some sumptuous shots, but he lacked support from the other end. Though Ishant Sharma looked reliable during his short stay, Adil Rashid’s clever wrong urn found him off-guard and England successfully reviewed to turn the decision in their favor.

Stokes returned in the end to dismiss Pandya, and England won an exciting first Test match. The Indian batting order looked bleak, but Virat Kohli’s gritty performances in both innings helped India come close to the target. Sam Curran’s displays with both bat and the ball were inspiring, and it was a match where individuals carried their teams.

The collective effort wasn’t there, and the whole match was somewhat overshadowed by brilliance of individuals like Kohli, Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin and lastly, Ben Stokes.

 

Scores:

ENG - 28710, 180/10

IND - 274/10, 162/10