Stokes bowls England to thrilling win at Edgbaston
SUMMARY: England 287 (Root 80, Bairstow 70, Ashwin 4-62, Shami 3-64) and 180 (Curran 63, Ishant 5-51, Ashwin 3-59) beat India 274 (Kohli 149, Curran 4-74) and 162 (Kohli 51, Stokes 4-40) by 31 runs.
England held their nerve to complete a tense 31-run victory over India in the first Test on an enthralling fourth morning at Edgbaston.
India – resuming on 110-5 in pursuit of 194 – were bowled out for 162 as tension mounted among an increasingly raucous crowd.
James Anderson removed Dinesh Karthik with the sixth ball of the day before Ben Stokes produced a brilliant over to dismiss captain Virat Kohli for 51 and Mohammed Shami.
The all-rounder sealed victory by having Hardik Pandya caught at first slip to finish with 4-40.
Joe Root’s bowling changes paid off: Stokes struck twice in his first five deliveries and recalled leg-spinner Adil Rashid trapped Ishant Sharma lbw in his first over.
Stokes in particular bowled with aggression and intelligence, although he is set to miss the second Test at Lord’s as his court case for affray begins in Bristol on Monday.
While India came up short, their performance was a far cry from their dismal tour four years ago and bodes well for the remainder of what promises to be a keenly contested five-Test series. (BBC Sport)
