India vs England, 1st Test: England beat India by 31 runs at Edgbaston

After a thrilling contest, England beat India by 31 runs to pick up a big win over at Edgbaston in the first Test.

After a thrilling contest, England defeated India by 31 runs to win the first Test at Edgbaston. The star of the day remained Ben Stokes, who not only took 3 wickets but also dismissed India skipper Virat Kohli. Needing 5 wickets to win on the 4th day, England kicked off strongly with James Anderson dismissing Dinesh Karthik in the first over. After Karthik’s dismissal, skipper Kohli snuck around with allrounder Hardik Pandya to build a partnership. But Stokes ended Kohli’s resistance for 51 and dismissed Mohammed Shami in the same over. Ishant Sharma tried to smack a few runs but was eventually dismissed by Adil Rashid’s for 11 with a googly. Stokes took the final wicket of Pandya, who was caught at second slips on 31, as England took a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.

The script of the first Test kept on changing, with both teams getting opportunities to take advantage at different stages. England started well with the bat on the first day, getting on to 216/3 with skipper Joe Root and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow scoring fifties each. Kohli ran out Root for 80, which prompted England to lose six wickets for 69 runs in the final session. With Ashwin taking four wickets, the visitors bowled out the hosts for 287.

In reply, India got off to a strong start with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan scoring a 50-run partnership. But wickets started to tumble in quick succession, and India found themselves in a spot of bother. The Indian skipper, once again, led the resistance and scored 149 runs, reducing the gap between the two teams by just 13 runs.

Ishant Sharma’s fifer helped India in bowling out England for 180, with a total lead of 193 runs. The Joe Root-led side found themselves in a spot of bother at one stage, with the score of 87/7. But Sam Curran’s 65-ball 63 saw them gaining a competitive total before being bowled out. India continued to lose wickets at regular intervals in the chase and eventually finished being the second best team in the match.