Debutant Tom Hartley achieved one of the greatest overseas triumphs in England's history, grinding out a remarkable seven-wicket win over India in the first Test in Hyderabad and completing a classic comeback.
Earlier in the match, Hartley had seen his first ball as a Test cricketer fired for six but he showed huge reserves of steel to bounce back with stunning figures of seven for 62 in the fourth innings to seal a dramatic 28-run victory.
The 24-year-old unknown, picked for this trip as a gut pick, entered the match with a career-best tally of five for Lancashire's 52 and left it a hero after taking the last wicket in the final over. the fourth day.
England looked set for a crushing defeat after conceding a 190-run first-innings deficit but refused to back down with bat or ball and condemned India to a fourth home defeat in over a decade.
Ollie Pope brought to the stand a heroic 196, leaving India in a tough chase for 231 on a rickety pitch, and with key spinner Jack Leach restricted by a knee injury, Hartley stepped up in memorable fashion.
India are used to having things their way at home, but at times they seemed to suffer from a collective malaise, their defense frozen as England rallied to bowl them out for 202. Hartley, appropriately, grabbed the winning moment when Mohamed Siraj stumbled. Ben Foakes on a road trip on the track.
In doing so he became the first spinner since the great Jim Laker to bag seven goals on debut, a feat made all the more impressive by his first-day spell that left some questioning his selection.
England's performance was also razor-sharp, with Pope following up a game-changing strike with two close-range shots from Hartley and captain Ben Stokes executing an instinctive run to pile on the pressure.
Starting on 316 for six, England added another 104 to finish with 420 all out – their highest score in a second innings in India since 1961.
Pope was unbeaten with an overnight score of 148, an effort that teammate Joe Root praised as “absolute mastery”, and added another 48 before the last man was out. He was killed off in befitting style, trying to reach a well-deserved double century with an over-the-shoulder over but lost his off-stump to Jasprit Bumrah.
He had earlier enjoyed a lively 80-run stand with Hartley, who made 34 runs to start his memorable day.
England almost enjoyed a perfect start in their quest for 10 wickets, with Mark Wood coming close with a solitary knock with the new ball as he edged past Rohit Sharma. Painfully, the catch slipped through Zak Crawley's fingers at slip and he skipped it for four.
Stokes still took off the seamer and bowled Hartley straight into the match against Yashavi Jaiswal, the man who fired his first Test delivery into the stands on Thursday night. Not bowing to those memories, Hartley established a groove and enjoyed a moment of redemption when Jaiswal powerfully put one into the hands of Pope at short leg.
The pair then combined again to send Shubman Gill packing for a duck, Hartley bowling it up and Pope staying low to hold on at silly point. England were in style but Sharma's presence caused concern.
He worked his way to 39 before Hartley made his biggest impact yet, converting a couple before sliding one straight into the front board of the slot. He called the Department of Information and Security, but shook his head in horror when the referee confirmed his fate.
India promoted Axar Patel from ninth to fifth, heading to tea at 95 for three, but four balls after the start of the second over Patel sent a low ball that was caught and bowled straight to Hartley.
KL Rahul, after being scratched for 22, stayed at the crease and was lbw to Root, making a good review with him. India's options were dwindling by the minute, and when Stokes deftly leapt and bowled the stumps to edge first-innings top-scorer Ravindra Jadeja by just two, it was a hammer blow.
Shreyas Iyer pushed a struggling Leach to slip for 13 but at 119 for seven, with little room for more errors, India finally regained their composure with a 57-run stand between Sreekar Bharath and Ravichandran Ashwin.
With the stumps around the corner, Hartley made his way back into the spotlight, ripping Bharat's outside edge to the top. That was enough encouragement for the judges to award an extra half hour which gave Hartley the stage to complete his underdog story.
Within seconds, Ashwin stumbled down the track, an error Siraj would repeat with just four balls remaining on the day to spark euphoric celebrations.
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