England won a thrilling contest by 31 runs as they won the first Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham against India. It was a game of a lot of twists and turns as the advantage pendulum kept swinging from one side to the other. However, it was England who drew the first blood in the long five-match Test series.
84 runs were needed at the start of play and England needed five wickets. James Anderson provided a perfect start as he sent back Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik in the initial stage.
England was able to come on top.
Joe Root turned to his talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes. Subsequently, Virat Kohli was plumbed in front by Stokes and India’s hopes were turned into despair. Kohli knew somewhere within him that was the game but had to take the review. However, Kohli hopes for a miracle wasn’t to be as there were three reds on the Hawkeye.
Shami was dismissed in the same over by Ben Stokes as he edged the ball to Jonny Bairstow. India’s last hopes were then rested on Ishant Sharma to accompany Hardik Pandya as the former has the best defensive technique. However, the lanky fast bowler could not read Adil Rashid’s wrong one.
England was able to hold on to their nerves.
Thus, Hardik Pandya was left with too many to get. Ben Stokes was able to win the final battle as Hardik Pandya meddled with a outside off stump delivery.
Meanwhile, the disappointment was palpable on the face of Indian skipper Virat Kohli when he came out to perform the customary handshakes.
Kohli scored 200 runs in the Test match. However, his stupendous effort could not be enough as India fell short by 31 runs.
On the other hand, Sam Curran was the biggest positive for England. The 20-year old youngster scalped four wickets in the first innings and scored a crucial knock of 63 runs in the second innings. Consequently, the youngster was the Man of the Match.
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes scalped four wickets in the second innings as he ran through the Indian lower order.
Brief Scores: England 1st innings: 287, Joe Root 80, Jonny Bairstow 70.
Ravichandran Ashwin: 4-62.
India’s 1st innings: 274, Virat Kohli 149.
Sam Curran: 4-64.
England 2nd Innings: 180, Sam Curran 63
Ishant Sharma 5-51.
India: 162; Virat Kohli 51.
Ben Stokes 4-40.
Therefore, England won by 31 runs.
WHAT A STROKE: Ben Stokes pulls a masterstroke at Edgbaston. We stopped talking about him and he returns with a bang to make his presence felt. One must feel for Virat Kohli, who played such valiant innings. But such is the beauty of Test cricket! #ENGvsIND
— Tahir Ibn Manzoor (@TahirIbnManzoor) August 4, 2018
Standing ovation for Kohli. 200 in the game and the feeling will be "We needed more". The weight a champion carries!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 4, 2018
That’s been a fantastic 3 days & 1 session .. Loved every single minute .. 2 teams giving it everything .. hope we have 4 more Tests exactly the same .. A Great 4 day Test Match !!! #ENDvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 4, 2018
WHAT a game of Test Cricket it has been.
This is the bloody beauty of the five-day game. THIS is real cricket. #ENGvIND
— ?????? ????? (@GautamSodhi1) August 4, 2018
What a luxury for India to have two seam bowling all-rounders batting together in a tense chase in an away Test. #Ishant #Pandya #ENGvIND
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) August 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/jatinsapru/status/1025707532868833280
Can’t remember being this invested emotionally for a Test in a long time. Totally worth it. Sam Curran, my player of the match.
— Shashank Kishore (@captainshanky) August 4, 2018
Indians scoring 200+ runs in a Test most times:
11 KOHLI
10 Tendulkar, Dravid
9 Sehwag
6 Gavaskar
4 Laxman#EngvInd— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) August 4, 2018
