India v England First Test Hyderabad
Don’t forget other cricket formats because Bazball would not in all likelihood have evolved without them but Test Match cricket is as gripping as it can get. England were losing this game for the first 2 and a half days. Having trailed by 190 runs on the first innings England were struggling at 163-5 in their second innings and in danger - if not of losing by an innings- then of being well short of setting India even a modest total for victory. Pope’s brilliantly improvised 196 with lower order help from first Foakes, then Rehan and Hartley set India a challenging 231 to win. Tom Hartley (whose first ball in Test cricket had been smashed for 6) took 7 wickets for 62 runs as India were bowled out for 202 to lose by 28 runs. A brilliant team effort with captain Ben Stokes run out of Jadeja a crushing blow to the home team at a key moment.
