Twitter Reactions: Ben Stokes' heroics helps England seal the first Test

One has to feel for Virat Kohli who tried his best but the rest of the batsmen didn't support him enough in both the innings.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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4 Min Read

Ben Stokes
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Ben Stokes of England celebrates. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

India needed 84 runs and England needed 5 wickets to win the enthralling Edgbaston Test match. India’s all hopes were pinned on their skipper Virat Kohli and the hosts had a plethora of fast bowlers to make it happen in helpful conditions. But the home side was up for the challenge and they thrived under extreme circumstances. The visitors tried their best but the wicket of Kohli proved to be the final nail in their coffin.

The day began wonderfully for England as their best bowler James Anderson nipped out Dinesh Karthik in the very first over. The ball was pitched on a good length area and shaped back at the batsman who was prodding forward defending. It duly took the edge of his bat and Dawid Malan didn’t make any mistake this time at the second slip.

Then came the partnership between Hardik Pandya and Kohli in which the former took the charge and scored some crucial runs. He played some delightful straight-drives and worried the hosts for a moment.

Stokes delivers the killer

However, the 47th over dealt a seriously huge blow for India as Ben Stokes pinned the best batsman of the match dead in front of the stumps. Anticipating the outside the off-stump line, Kohli shuffled a bit but the bowled close to his stumps and the ball jagged back in a wee bit. The result was the batsman missed his flick only for the ball to hit his pads. Umpire was quick in raising his fingers as the crowd went crazy in the celebration and so were England cricketers in the middle.

Kohli reviewed out of hope but he was never going to survive. Mohammed Shami was sent back in the same over and everyone realised that the end was nigh for India. Though Pandya tried his best by hogging the strike, the last two wickets could add only 21 runs this time around.

Fittingly, Stokes delivered the final blow as Pandya was dismissed in the slips and England sealed the thrilling Test match by 31 runs. It swung either way every now and then, but the home side had just a bit more firepower in them which denied the victory for their opponents who were carried by only one man with the bat.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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