England vs India 2018, 1st Test – England Player Ratings

The Test series got off to the best possible start as both England and India held control of the game for a fair share of the four days. It swung in favour of both the teams on the back of some magnificent bowling spells and brilliant batting efforts. Sam Curran did that in the first innings with the ball, then it was Virat Kohli’s turn to stamp his authority.

When Ishant Sharma almost ran through the English middle order on day 3, Curran once again put England in cruise control with his half century. Kohli again tried to walk his team out of troubles but Ben Stokes’ consistently probing bowling got him and wrapped the game up for his team. England, in the end, won the match by 31 runs.

Here are the ratings of the English players for their performance in the 1st Test:

Alastair Cook – 3/10:

Despite the win, if one man has a lot of thinking to do it is Alastair Cook. After batting through the first burst from the Indian pacers in the first innings, he lost his stumps to Ravichandran Ashwin in his second over having scored just 13. It was a replay of the same dismissal in the second innings and he was out for a duck.

Keaton Jennings 5/10:

When Cook got out early in the first innings Jennings stuck there and had a partnership with Joe Root that shaped their total. Just when he would’ve liked to convert it into a big score the left-hander was dismissed for 42. In the second innings, he fell to Ashwin and was out for just 8.

Joe Root – 7/10

The English skipper drew a lot of confidence into his innings having hit two hundreds in the ODI series. He walked out with the responsibility and framed the backbone of their batting with two key partnerships. He first had Jennings and then partnered with Jonny Bairstow.

Root looked really comfortable against the pacers as well as Ashwin till he was run out for 80. In the second innings he could only contribute 14 but captaincy wise he gets additional points for being spot on and making just the right changes.

Dawid Malan – 2/10

He scored 28 runs in the Test match but Dawid Malan who has the responsibility of manning the slip cordon spilled a lot of catches. The most expensive of them all was that of Virat Kohli. He was just batting on 20 then and the Indian skipper went on to score 149 in the first innings which brought India back in the game as he almost wiped off the deficit single-handedly.

Jonny Bairstow – 7/10

Bairstow isn’t just a safe keeper for England behind the wickets but a man who has a counterattacking approach to batting. It works more often for him than not. He scored 70 runs in the first innings before playing one onto his stumps from Umesh Yadav. In the second he managed 28 before edging one from Ishant Sharma. In the second innings, the ball flew to him a lot more often and he bagged five catches.

Ben Stokes – 8/10

He is the one player every captain wants to have in their team. He can bat, he can bowl and when Ben Stokes is out there in the middle things happen. In the first innings after Curran’s spell, Indians were once again getting comfortable. Stokes then dismissed Ajinkya Rahane and Dinesh Karthik to give them an entry into the lower order.

He didn’t have a really good game with the bat scoring 28 runs but in the second innings, Stokes got the wicket of Kohli on the fourth afternoon that just sealed the game for England. He finished with six wickets in the match.

Jos Buttler – 2/10

The new vice-captain of the England Test team was dismissed for a duck in the first innings by Ashwin who got one to turn back into him. In the second innings, he tried to push one from Ishant and edged it to the keeper for just 1. He was involved in the decision making and Root sought his advice in the crunch moments of the game.

Sam Curran – 9.5/10

What a dream Test match it was for the 20-year-old. Playing his second Test match, he first changed the course of the Indian innings with his four-wicket spell. They had 50 runs on the board for no loss and suddenly slid to 148/6, the left-arm pacer claimed four of those wickets and set the game up beautifully for his team.

In the second innings when it appeared as if England will be bowled out for something around 100, Curran scored his maiden half century and his 63 gave them a decisive lead in the game. He was the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.

Adil Rashid – 6/10

The skipper didn’t use his lone spinner a lot in the match. Didn’t get him in the attack until the tail was on. But Rashid made best of what he got and claimed two wickets in the first innings and got the big fish Kohli out for 149, in the second innings he bowled just 4 overs and dismissed Ishant Sharma on both occasions.

Stuart Broad – 4/10

Broad wasn’t at his best in the first innings, the ball didn’t quite swing in the first spell on the second morning. He looked pretty much out of rhythm and thus Root used him for just 10 overs whereas Stokes bowled 19. In the second innings, he bowled a lot better and got them the first two wickets dismissing both the Indian openers.

James Anderson – 6/10

He was expected to be the man who gets England a bulk of wickets but that didn’t happen. The wickets tally will never do justice to his contribution. Anderson bowled 22 overs in the first innings and each one of it kept the batsmen on the edge.

He didn’t get Kohli in either innings but had him tied. He was unlucky as catches were dropped but still ended up with a couple of successes. On the fourth morning he gave the team early breakthrough dismissing Karthik and gave England the belief to close the game in their favour.