Hartley rips out Indian hearts

Hyderabad: Current Indian batters’ weakness against spin bowling on turning tracks stood ruthlessly exposed as England’s debutant Tom Hartley spun a web around them that saw the visitors complete a stunning come-from-behind victory in the opening Test here on Sunday.

Reluctant to use their feet to smother the spin but opting to play predominantly from the crease on a deteriorating track that that was typical sub-continent in nature - variable bounce with the odd ball turning too much or keeping low - the Indians looked clueless in the face of disciplined wicket-to-wicket England bowling to crash to 202 all out and suffer a humbling 28-run defeat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

Barring Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin and KS Bharat while chasing a gettable 231 against an inexperienced visiting spin attack, a vast majority of the Indian batters barely displayed any application nor a counter-plan to disrupt England’s rhythm. They opted to play from the crease, allowing Hartley and Co to bowl as per their plans, and if not for some wagging of the tail they would have ended up suffering a chastening.

Hartley, ripped apart in the first innings where he conceded 131 runs for two scalps, savoured a debut to remember, bagging a stunning 7 for 62 that will certainly rank as one of the most remarkable turnaround performances by a young tweaker in India.

The ineptitude started right from Yashasvi Jaiswal, who kept swinging at things moment England skipper Ben Stokes opted to open with part-time off-spinner Joe Root. Despite the lack of confidence Jaiswal at least tried to offset England’s spinners which others didn’t have the courage to do.

Sadly, the bravado also cost his wicket as he stepped down too early and the 24-year-old Hartley showed solid presence of mind to drag the ball a bit short and cramp him for room. Caught in two minds after having taken the plunge, Jaiswal ended up edging the ball to Ollie Pope at short-leg.

One led to another as Shubman Gill, struggling for runs in the long format, plonked his feet to the second ball he faced and Pope, whose sensational 196 hauled England back from the dead in the first place, took another sharp catch to send early jitters in the Indian camp.

Rohit, one of the very few good players of spin and the most experienced batter, knew a lot hinged on him. He took a leaf out of England’s book and played the reverse-sweep to good effect although it looked ugly. He kept doing it continuously but Stokes stayed on the offensive. He gave Hartley the license and confidence to keep bowling at the good-length area without worrying about the result and the youngster just followed his captain’s commands blindly.

Then, against the run of play, Hartley had Rohit’s back. It was just the usual left-armer’s delivery but Rohit, perhaps thinking the ball may turn a lot more, just planted his front-foot and to his dismay the ball stuck his pads and umpire Chris Gaffaney has no hesitation in raising his index finger. At 63/3 India were in trouble and they promoted southpaw Axar Patel to nullify left-armer Hartley.

To some extent Axar did with dour batting and with KL Rahul also going along cautiously, India hung in there. However, the wheels came off in the first over after tea. Hartley caught and bowled Axar and then Root, taking extra bowling responsibilities owing to Jack Leach’s sore knee, trapped Rahul. And when Jadeja ran himself out and Shreyas Iyer departed to Leach, India were staring down the barrel at 119/7.

Bharat and Ashwin then staged a mini-fightback with a 57-run stand but England, bubbling with confidence, just kept attacking. They knew one wicket would swing the game their way and Hartley did it, castling Bharat with a peach and then getting Ashwin stumped. It was game over then.