England has won the first Test match of the series against India and has taken a 1-0 lead. After securing a good lead over England in the first inning, the English batters again pulled the game in their favour by hitting a massive 420 runs in the second inning. India started their second innings with a target score of 231 runs, but the top-order of the side totally failed to contribute anything, due to which England totally dominated the home side on the fourth day of the Test match.
The lack of Partnerships pushed India to the backfoot
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal accumulated 42 runs for the first wicket, due to which the side was able to get off to a good start. But in the 12th over, Jaiswal lost his wicket after scoring 15 runs, and on the last delivery of the same over, Shubman Gill also lost his wicket. Rohit Sharma stayed on the crease till the 18th over and scored the highest 39 runs in 58 deliveries but could not lead the side to victory.
Srikar Bharat and Ravichandran Ashwin Kept the hopes alive
When Bharat and Ashwin were batting on the crease, the situation was changing in favour of the home side. India lost their seven wickets to a score of just 119 runs, but both players made a partnership of 57 runs and provided the fans with a fragrance of the win.
But on the last delivery of the 62nd over, Tom Hartley picked up the wicket of Srikar Bharat, and the chances of India’s win became negligible. Ravichandran Ashwin got stumped while facing a delivery from Tom Hartley and lost his wicket when the total score of the side was 177 runs and the target was still 54 runs away.
Tom Hartley’s Explosive bowling in the second innings
Tom Hartley picked up a total of 7 wickets in 26.2 overs with an economy rate of 2.35 and aligned the game in favour of England. Hartley took back-to-back wickets during the initial overs of the Indian innings and did not give even a single chance to the opposing side to balance their innings.
The lower batting order of the side kept fighting till the end but could not lead the side to the required total, and India lost the contest by a margin of 28 runs in the first Test match of the series.
