SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2018 20 Stokes steals the show England bag thrilling win in first Test at Edgbaston 31 194 162 runs shy of the target was the target England was India’s score when India was bowled out had to defend bowled out

Ben Stokes took three• The fact we didn’t play to He could miss next our potential at all and week’s• second Test were still close in the game says everything about us Sharma fined 15 percent as a side of• his match fee for the ‘send-off’ he gave England’s Dawid Malan during the down by Dawid Malan at second slip off first Test at Edgbaston just the sixth ball of the day. It was a morale-boosting moment for Malan, who had dropped three slip AFP | Birmingham, United Kingdom catches this match, including flooring Kohli on 21 and 51 during the star bats- en Stokes took three wickets on man’s first- 149 -- his maiden Saturday, including the prize Test in England. Bscalp of India Virat Kohli, New batsman Pandya played several as England won the first Test by 31 runs solid defensive shots before driving Stu- in a thrilling finish at Edgbaston. art Broad down the ground for a text- The all-rounder, who could miss next book four -- a boundary greeted with India’s Virat Kohli walks back to the pavilion after week’s second Test of a five-match se- huge cheers by the large contingent of losing his for 51 ries at Lord’s because of a court trial on India fans in the crowd. a charge of affray starting Monday, took Kohli then completed an 88-ball fifty 1st Test scoreboard two wickets in an over including Kohli. when he glanced Anderson down to fine Stokes ended the match when he had leg, the fourth four of his innings spark- (31) caught at first slip by ing chants of “Kohli!, Kohli!, Kohli!” England 1st Innings 287 (J Root 80, J Bairstow 70; Alastair Cook, with India bowled out for from spectators. R Ashwin 4-62, M Shami 3-64) 162, having been set 194 to win. Pandya kept the runs coming with India 1st Innings 274 (V Kohli 149; S Curran 4-74) Pandya’s exit left Stokes with innings two more boundaries off Broad -- a England 2nd Innings 180 (S Curran 63; I Sharma 5-51, figures of four for 40 in 14.2 overs. straight drive followed by a clip past R Ashwin 3-59) However, fellow England all-rounder midwicket. India 2nd Innings (target 194, overnight: 110-5) Sam Curran was named man-of-the- India were 141 for six, needing 53 M. Vijay lbw b Broad 6 match after starring with both bat and more runs to win, when paceman Stokes S. Dhawan c Bairstow b Broad 13 ball. had star batsman Kohli lbw for 51 with KL Rahul c Bairstow b Stokes 13 That England had a target of 194 to just his third ball of the day. V. Kohli lbw b Stokes 51 defend was largely down to the 20-year- Kohli reviewed but experienced Pa- A. Rahane c Bairstow b Curran 2 old Curran’s 63, his maiden Test fifty kistan umpire Aleem Dar’s decision R. Ashwin c Bairstow b Anderson 13 in just his second match at this level was upheld. D. Karthik c Malan b Anderson 20 rescuing the hosts from the depths of Three balls later, Stokes had Moham- H. Pandya c Cook b Stokes 31 87 for seven. Curran’s innings came just med Shami caught behind for a . M. Shami c Bairstow b Stokes 0 a day after the Surrey left-arm swing India now looked to Pandya and Is- I. Sharma lbw b Rashid 11 bowler’s Test-best haul of four for 74 hant Sharma to take them to just their U. Yadav 0 during India’s first innings of 274. seventh win in 58 Tests in England. Extras (b1, lb2) 2 Saturday’s play started with the But when Sharma was lbw to leg-spin- Total (all out, 54.2 overs, 264 mins) 162 match on a knife edge. India were 110 ner Adil Rashid’s googly for 11 -- albeit Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Vijay), 2-22 (Dhawan), 3-46 (Rahul), 4-63 (Rahane), 5-78 (Ashwin), 6-112 for five -- still 84 runs shy of victory England had to first review New Zea- (Karthik), 7-141 (Kohli), 8-141 (Shami), 9-154 (Sharma), 10-162 (Pandya) -- with England needing five wickets. land umpire Chris Gaffaney’s original Bowling: Anderson 16-2-50-2; Broad 14-2-43-2; Stokes 14.2-40-4; Curran 6-0-18-1; Rashid 4-1-9-1 Given the sunny overhead conditions not out call -- India were 154 for nine in Birmingham, the only certainty then and needing a further 40 runs for vic- Result: England won by 31 runs was the match would finish with more tory. Pandya, with just Man-of-the-match: Sam Curran (ENG) Series: England lead five-match Specsavers series 1-0 than a day to spare. Kohli was 43 not for company, launched Stokes over ex- England’s out and wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik tra-cover for four before refusing easy Remaining Fixtures Ben Stokes (L) unbeaten on 18. singles to spare the No 11 from facing up. celebrates after England knew they needed early But Pandya’s resistance ended when Aug 09-13: 2nd Test, Lord’s Aug 18-22: 3rd Test, taking the wicket strikes and Anderson, their all-time he edged Stokes and Cook, after a match of India’s KL Rahul leading Test wicket-taker, duly obliged of several dropped catches in the slips, Aug 30-Sep 03: 4th Test, Southampton Sep 07-11: 5th Test, when he had Karthik (20) caught low made no mistake.