(Cricket News) With their most experienced spinner injured and half their side has gone before scores were levelled, England pulled off one of their greatest Test victories in front of a boisterous Barmy Army and a stunned home crowd in Hyderabad.

Of all the ways you imagine winning a Test in India, falling behind by 190 in the first innings – a deficit never before reversed by a visiting team in India – is not one. Nevertheless, England did the unthinkable with an emphatic victory, even though a hilarious last-wicket stand brought India to within 29 runs of their target.

The biggest lead India has ever lost is 192, which came from a once-in-a-generation, sweep-filled knock from Dinesh Chandimal in Galle back in 2015. Ollie Pope, playing for England, was the man behind the scenes, scoring 196 runs full of sweeps, reverse sweeps, and reverse Dilscoops, causing the Indian spinners’ lengths to look like match predictions after two days of cricket.

The other hero was Tom Hartley, the left-arm spinner who was a debutant in Test cricket and ended up with seven wickets in the second innings despite being hit for two sixes in his first over.
Rehan Ahmed and Hartley provided vital support to Pope, who started the day 126 ahead with just four wickets remaining after his overnight 148. Only five times in India’s history has 230 or more been chased down successfully, but the hosts would have had reason for hope despite Jack Leach.

Their experienced spinner, being at best hobbling, and Hartley, the other left-arm spinner, having been punished for 63 runs in his first nine-over spell in the first innings. So inconsistent had Ahmed been, and Mark Wood so unfit for the conditions, that Joe Root had been their best bowler up until that point.

Fourth-inning chases, however, have their own rhythms. Ben Stokes, who captained like a millionaire in the first innings to buy wickets, knew he just needed in-out fields here.

Root, Hartley, and Leach performed admirably despite their obvious limitations. And unlike England, India provided them with a stationary target, allowing them to bowl good length repeatedly, a luxury not available to India’s spinners.

You can imagine that Pope, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi practicing these sweeps rather than honing their front-foot defense against spin. Pope’s execution lasted the longest. Some of the shots were spectacular, like his repeat of the reverse Dilscoop.

Pope’s execution lasted the longest; some of the shots were sensational, like his repeat of the reverse Dilscoop off Ravindra Jadeja from Saturday. You can imagine that Pope, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi just practicing the various sweeps more than their front-foot defense against spin. They took those chances in the second innings after having been outplayed playing defensively in the first.

The fact that Jasprit Bumrah was India’s best bowler is a testament to the spinners, who are two of the greatest spinners of all time. He removed Ahmed early in the innings with a reverse-swinging outswinger and ended Pope’s innings with a slower ball.

However, between those two bowling performances, Hartley and Pope added 80 for the eighth wicket. During that partnership, with Ashwin and Jadeja bowling, India struggled to hold their lengths and the field settings allowed singles everywhere.

It might not be unfair to say that India did not have a response for the period when unorthodox methods worked against them. Pope needed some luck, yes—72 false responses, the most for any innings since 2003—but he did his part in eliminating catching men.

That England had nothing to lose after falling behind by 190 gave the Pope even more freedom to do what he did. After all, India had no such luxury; they were not natural sweepers, forget about reverse sweepers.

They also had a home Test to lose, which is something they rarely do, and never after taking that kind of lead in the first innings. Stokes, who had sought to manufacture wickets in the first innings with attacking fields, could now fall back on the traditional approach: attack with the ball, defend with the fields.

While India got off to a decent enough start, scoring 42 for the first wicket, the spinners were troubling them and they were not making the length errors they did in the first innings.
Wood bowled only one over with the new ball, in which he had Rohit Sharma dropped at second slip.

However, Root and Hartley were then all over the good length like a rash.
Given that Hartley had found his length, Stokes deserves credit for persisting in bowling him during the first innings and getting him into his work.

When someone did attempt to work him off his areas, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was forced to defend at short leg due to the length correction, but Pope produced a brilliant catch at short leg off the face of the bat.

Two balls later, Hartley had sent Shubman Gill back, who defended with firm hands, and Pope got down on his knees at silly point to catch it off the bat once more.

Axar Patel was brought in by India to add a left-hand batsman to the mix and make better use of his batting skills. Rahul and Patel added 32 for the fourth wicket, but the runs came in two spurts: the first when Rahul was allowed to sweep from the outside leg, and the second when Ahmed missed his length.

Rohit was the only batsman from India who demonstrated a willingness to sweep and reverse-sweep spinners off their length. He even played three reverse sweeps, despite having only used the shot seven times in his Test career.

The ball had become soft by then, and India was in a position to capitalize on the easiest batting conditions, but instead, KS Bharat and Ashwin added a conservative 57 for the eighth wicket in 21.4 overs.

Had India had more wickets during this phase, they could have gone closer. After England controlled the bad balls, the wickets came quickly. Axar gave a return catch to Hartley, and Rahul went back to a full ball from Root, a rare misjudgment of length. Jadeja then ran himself out, and Shreyas Iyer played arguably the worst shot.

In the final over of the day, England claimed the extra thirty minutes and, after a wild 25-run stand between Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah, got home with a ball that drifted in, pitched leg, and turned past Bharat’s bat to take the off stump, which was produced by Hartley, who also produced his match-winning ball.

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