Ben Stokes (4/40) rose to the occasion on the fourth day of the Edgbaston Test, a part of the Specsavers series, getting India captain Virat Kohli LBW as the latter played across his pad for 51
England registered a 31-run victory over India at the first Test match, which was the 1,000th for the hosts.
Ben Stokes (4/40) rose to the occasion on the fourth day of the Edgbaston Test, a part of the Specsavers series, getting India captain Virat Kohli LBW as the latter played across his pad for 51. Stokes had replaced James Anderson at the City End after Kohli led India, adding a second-innings half-century to his 149 in the first innings.
Stokes also claimed the wicket of Mohammed Shami.
Hardik Pandya posed some challenge for the English, but finally lost his wicket, with India bowled out for 162. Pandya edged Stokes to Alastair Cook at the slips.
India had resumed with 110 for 5 aiming at 194 to win.
Reacting to the loss, Kohli said, “It was a great game of cricket. Glad to be a part of such an exciting Test match; there were a couple of moments when we came back. A team like England is relentless, they made us work very hard for our runs. Our shot selection could have been better. We definitely need to apply ourselves better with the bat, but England came back superbly and we need to take the positives and move forward. There is a lot to learn from the lower order in the first innings, Ishant and Umesh got stuck in the middle. There is no hiding from this game; we need to be positive, relentless. From the team's point of view, my innings in the first innings is right up there, perhaps second after the knock in Adelaide. Had we won it would have been the best. We need to think how to regroup and get back for the next match. Test cricket is my favourite format, there is nothing better than testing yourselves over five days and I hope the fans like it too”
Joe Root, the winning captain: I am thrilled to bits. It has been a fantastic team performance despite the ups and downs the credit must go to the bowling unit. Coming into today, it was going to be a stiff challenge and we knew that if we stayed calm throughout, we would give ourselves the best chance to win. This is why Test cricket is this special - it throws up so many things through the day and we did a good job in staying calm. We made sure we didn't get ahead of ourselves and after three days of fantastic cricket from both sides it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next game. It shows that there is so much more than just skills, runs and wickets when it comes to Test cricket at this level. It is a great time for us and hopefully we can use it going forward. Sam Curran has a great amount of skill; great having him in our side and very exciting and promising cricketer. It is easy to make an emotional decision right now, but we need to sit outside and decide for Lord's depending on the surface.
Scoreboard :
England 1st Innings: 287
India 1st Innings: 274
England 2nd Innings: 180
India 2nd Innings
(overnight 110-5)
Murali Vijay lbw b Broad 6
Shikhar Dhawan c Bairstow b Broad 13
Lokesh Rahul c Bairstow b Stokes 13
Virat Kohli lbw b Stokes 51
Ajinkya Rahane c Bairstow b Curran 2
Ravichandran Ashwin c Bairstow b Anderson 13
Dinesh Karthik c Malan b Anderson 20
Hardik Pandya c Cook b Stokes 31
Mohammed Shami c Bairstow b Stokes 0
Ishant Sharma lbw b Rashid 11
Umesh Yadav not out 0
Extras: (1b, 1lb) 2
TOTAL: (all out) 162
Overs: 54.2.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-22, 3-46, 4-63, 5-78, 6-112, 7-141, 8-141, 9-154, 10-162.
Bowling: James Anderson 16-2-50-2, Stuart Broad 14-2-43-2, Ben Stokes 14.2-2-40-4, Sam Curran 6-0-18-1, Adil Rashid 4-1-9-1.
Toss: England.
Result: England won by 31 runs.
Series: England leads five-match series 1-0.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand.
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus, South Africa. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.
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