Cricket
Twitter users blast Indian batters other than Kohli for failing to apply themselves.
Updated : Aug 04, 2018, 06:11 PM IST
England's Ben Stokes grabbed three wickets on Saturday including the prized scalp of India captain Virat Kohli to give the hosts a stunning victory by 31 runs on the fourth day of the first test match at Edgbaston. Chasing 194 runs, India resumed their second innings at 110 for the loss of five wickets with Kohli and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik needing 84 for victory.
But the hosts, playing their 1,000th test match, made an early breakthrough with strike bowler James Anderson removing Karthik with the final delivery of the first over. That brought all-rounder Hardik Pandya to the crease and at one stage the visitors seemed to have found their way back into a gripping contest that has swung with every session over the last three days. The duo put on 29 runs for the seventh wicket with Pandya looking the more aggressive of the two, hitting Stuart Broad for two consecutive boundaries in one over. But the introduction of Stokes in the eleventh over of the day dragged the momentum back in favour of the hosts.First he trapped Kohli, who was looking dangerous after scoring a fluent half century, with a beautiful delivery that rapped him on the pads and followed that up by dismissing bowler Mohammed Shami for a duck. Pandya offered some resistance to the English bowlers but the task turned out to be too big for him at the end. He was the last man out for the visitors and gave Stokes his fourth wicket of the innings.
The win gave England a 1-0 lead in the five match series.
Here's how Twitter reacted to India's heartbreaking loss:
That's one defeat that might haunt for a while... Great Test match. Had it in grasp, and then dropped it.
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) August 4, 2018
Must feel for Kohli. He'd kept his team alive in both innings. But the rest of the Indian batting was a shambles. Some tough questions need to be asked by the team management of the top order
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) August 4, 2018
Hardik Pandya is that Abhimanyu who learnt everything but couldnt hear the last skill, how to manage the strike when batting with Tailenders.
— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) August 4, 2018
Dhawan's drops. Ten players scoring 214 runs to Kohli's 200. Not playing Pujara and Kuldeep. Do the math. #ENGvIND
— Jamie Alter (@alter_jamie) August 4, 2018
Problem - India one down.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) August 4, 2018
Solution - Pujara one down.
That’s been a fantastic 3 days & 1 session .. Loved every single minute .. 2 teams giving it everything .. hope we have 4 more Tests exactly the same .. A Great 4 day Test Match !!! #ENDvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 4, 2018
Kind of fair for the nation that gave Cricket to the world, register a win in their 1000th Test. Well played England! #ENGvIND
— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) August 4, 2018
Kohli told Pandya while going back to pavilion. #EngvInd pic.twitter.com/jEVHDeMIhY
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) August 4, 2018
Virat Kohli should drop 1 tailender out of the 10 we have got in the team, and get a batsman instead. #ENGvIND
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) August 4, 2018
The next test match is at Lord's from 9th August. Stokes will be missing the test match for England. Will India make changes or go for the same team considering it is a five match test series. Twittterati definitely wants Pujara in the team. Will Kohli oblige? We will know soon.
With Reuters inputs