IND vs ENG: England gives the world a solution to crack India’s spin code
At Hyderabad, Rohit Sharma’s team seem to have lost their aura of invincibility at home. They would enter the next Test with the awareness that they need to devise their own system to beat the English system.
England’s daring brand of cricket broke India’s staggeringly successful streak at home on Sunday. The 28-run win in the first game of the five-Test series at Hyderabad was a triumph of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes’s unflinching faith in their brave system that has no place for the fear of failure.
Sunday’s defeat was only India’s fourth Test loss at home since 2013, but its scars will linger long. It was the first time India lost a Test at home despite securing a 100-plus lead, and its second defeat ever, anywhere, after leading by 190 runs.
Also, only once before has India lost at home despite scoring more (449 against Pakistan in Bengaluru in 2005), making Sunday’s a statement-making victory for England.
On a spin-friendly pitch, the kind where many visiting teams have crumbled, England’s miracle-workers were not the usual suspects, its time-tested match winners Joe Root and Ben Stokes. Those responsible for India’s loss were Tom Hartley, a debutant left-arm spinner, and Ollie Pope, a batsman with a modest Test record.
