England vs India 2018, first Test: Hits and Misses
In their 1st test of the long English summer, the Indians were asked to bowl. Ashwin dismissed Cook with an absolute peach but England dominated the first day until Kohli’s brilliance brought about the dismissal of Root.
Then, Shami and Ashwin made short work of the lower order and England were dismissed for 286.
India began well with Dhawan and Vijay stitching together a decent partnership but a familiar collapse ensued after that with Kohli being the lone warrior. He played an innings which highlighted his class and temperament and took India very close to securing a lead.
Then, Ishant bowled one of the finest spells of his career and gave India hopes of a rare overseas victory. But the Indian batsmen put up a disappointing show again and India lost by 31 runs.
Here are five hits and misses from the game:
#5 Hit: Kohli’s batting and captaincy
There was a humongous amount of expectations on Kohli coming into this match with a lot of curiosity surrounding his duel with Anderson.
Virat yet again proved he is simply the best batsman in the world with a world class century in the 1st innings and a fighting half-century in the second innings.
The highlight of his century was the outstanding temperament which was missing big time on the 2014 tour.
Once he got to his century, he counterattacked the English bowlers in his own way playing glorious cover drives and flicks. In the first innings, Anderson troubled him throughout his spell but in the second innings, he looked more settled and comfortable.
His captaincy too was right on target from the beginning and his move to bring Ashwin early into the attack proved to be a masterstroke. This was a dream match for Kohli and nightmare match for all other Indian batsmen.