Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
As England crushed India by 227 runs in the opening test at Chennai’s M. A. Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday to go 1-0 up in the four-match series, former and current cricketers and sports analysts took to Twitter to gush over captain Joe Root and his team’s incredible performance, terming it “one of the best Test wins” and a “complete victory”.
The hosts, set a daunting 420-run victory target, were bowled out for 192 in the second session of the final day, captain Virat Kohli top-scoring with a fighting 72.
Opener Shubman Gill scored an elegant 50 but India struggled against James Anderson’s (3-17) reverse-swing mastery, while left-arm spinner Jack Leach (4-76) ran through the lower order.
This was England’s sixth successive victory in an away test, including triumphs in South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The win also took England to the top of the World Test rankings.
First to congratulate the team was Cricket England. “WHAT A TEAM PERFORMANCE!!” the body tweeted.
Some predicted victory even before it was officially declared as India struggled to pick up runs against a relentless England.
Ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan said it was “going to go down as one of the GREAT England test wins”, praising Joe Root, Ben Stokes and James Anderson for their performance.
“This team are onto something potentially very special this year,” he later added.
The Australian ‘king of spin,’ cricketer Shane Warne congratulated the visitors on “what will be a good win by England”, also praising Anderson’s “superb” performance.
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen quipped that he had warned India against celebrating after their shocking win in Australia last month.
“India, remember I had already warned not to celebrate too much when you defeated Australia in their home,” he wrote in Hindi.
Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg claimed England had “the better of the conditions and didn’t give that advantage up from day one”.
Hogg, who said he was “loving Test cricket”, predicted that “India will come back hard”.
Andrew Miller, UK sports editor for ESPNcricinfo, too was in awe of England’s victory, saying: “What a stunning victory – massive runs, raw pace, reverse swing, incisive spin when it really counted. Sharp catching, and very astute tactics from Joe Root. One of England’s best Test wins in recent memory.”
Sports presenter and cricket commentator Zainab Abbas said the visitors were “becoming good travellers”, calling it an “incredible win”.
Vithushan Ehantharajah, sports feature writer, said there was “nothing like that kind of control across five days, against India in India no less”.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen a more complete Test win under Joe Root.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by sports commentator Aatif Nawaz. “Joe Root’s England team has many incredible accolades…but beating India at home in this fashion has to be right up there.
“They won every session of this test match. India have a lot of work to do before the next game. One of England’s greatest overseas test wins ever.”
Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar reminded people that the focus should be on England’s win more than anything else.
“More than slagging India off, let’s applaud England. Superb Batting on day 1 and 2 to set up the win.”