The big question at the start of day four of the first England vs India Test at Edgbaston was how much more could Indian captain Virat Kohli do. The answer, just not enough. However, that is not any reflection of Kohli’s inability by any account. He had a stellar match compiling 200 runs across two innings – the trouble was rest of Indian batters mustered 214 in the match.
England won by 31 runs, registering a thrilling win in their historic 1000th Test with Ben Stokes getting the prized wicket of Kohli for 51 in the 11th over of the day. Overnight batsman Dinesh Karthik was undone by James Anderson in the first over itself after which, Hardik Pandya applied himself well to support Kohli.
Pandya cautiously managed to hit four boundaries, but the going was slow against a disciplined England attack.
With a flick off Anderson towards fine leg, Kohli brought up his fifty but could only add one more run before he tried to play across a Stokes good length delivery and was trapped in front.
Mohammed Shami edged a back of length delivery to Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid picked up Ishant Sharma with a googly in his first over of the innings. Stokes finished off the match when Pandya edged a back-of-length delivery to Alastair Cook at slips as India were all out for 162.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
Awesome start! Gonna be a good series this…. 😁 #1-0 #ENGvIND Great work boys ! 🏏
— Sarah Taylor (@Sarah_Taylor30) August 4, 2018
Thrilling test match but England collectively were much better. Sam Curran's contribution with the bat yesterday eventually turned out to be the difference. India will look for more contributions from the other batsmen #ENGvIND
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) August 4, 2018
A tough fight between the two teams. Heart goes out for @imVkohli for the way he battled in this both the innings. #ENGvIND
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) August 4, 2018
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
Virat Kohli in this Test scored 200 runs in two innings, Rest of the India batsmen scored 214 runs in 20 innings. #EngvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 4, 2018
Massive win for Eng.India,a one man army?Looking at how Asian teams struggle with their batting in England,Pakistan’s Lords win by scoring a 364 in the 1st innings that too in May,terrific batting performance.India must regroup & get Pujara in..#ENGvIND
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) August 4, 2018
Great Test match #ENDvIND Well done @ECB_cricket …. I do feel for @BCCI (Was actually hoping they’d get over the line )
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) August 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1025707100389949441
https://twitter.com/AlexHales1/status/1025706002354765826
Test cricket at it’s supreme best!! #ENDvIND
— Shikha Pandey (@shikhashauny) August 4, 2018
Bena Bena Stokes, Bena Stokes, BENA BENA STOKES! Has that won the Test match? Unreal, gripping test Cricket, this is why we love it! @benstokes38 #EngvIND
— Ish Sodhi (@ish_sodhi) 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
What a test match @edgbaston yet again! Congrats to the boys! Ridiculous win in the end! @englandcricket 🙌🏼👏🏼
— Chris Woakes (@chriswoakes) August 4, 2018
The charm of test cricket ✨ #ENDvIND
— Mayanti Langer Binny (@MayantiLanger_B) August 4, 2018
Now that is Test cricket…loved every minute of it. @englandcricket fought hard throughout this Test. Going to be a tough series #ENDvIND
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) August 4, 2018
WHAT A TEST MATCH! @benstokes38 🔥
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) August 4, 2018
Test cricket 😍 Congrats @englandcricket and @root66 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
— Heather Knight (@Heatherknight55) August 4, 2018
England go 1-0 up! Ben Stokes takes four as England win by 31 runs#ENGvIND #INDvENG #1stTest #Cricket #CricketTrolls pic.twitter.com/VP14KEPZdI
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) August 4, 2018
Edgbaston Test:
Stokes + Curran – 11 wkts @ 18.63
Anderson + Broad – 6 wkts @ 29.00India had perhaps prepared for Anderson-Broad whereas Stokes and Curran came out of syllabus. #EngvInd
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) August 4, 2018
Indian batsmen after being helpless away from home. #EngvInd #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/iZ5xqzT2Sp
— Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) August 4, 2018
Apparently, India played with 10 tail-enders and Virat Kohli. Feel for him.#ENGvIND
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) August 4, 2018
Hardik Pandya has more trust in Ishant's batting capabilities than his own it seems. During that stand Pandya faced only 3 balls and allowed Ishant to face 15.#ENGvIND
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) August 4, 2018
Maiden fifty ✅
Five wickets in the match ✅
Specsavers Man of the Match ✅ pic.twitter.com/PDo5DUvl0f— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 4, 2018
