England's match-winner Tom Hartley reveals reason which turned 1st Test vs India in their favour, says 'I didn't have to bowl...'

Tom Hartley turned the match on its head with his sensational seven-wicket haul and handed India a shocking 28-run defeat on Day 4 of the first Test on January 28. Tom Hartley's incredible spell of 7/62 thwarted India from chasing a not-so-big target of 231. He dismantled India's top-order by removing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill cheaply. He then went on to dismiss Srikar Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj. India lost the match despite their 190-run lead in the first innings. However failed to continue their momentum, despite tightening the screw on England with early breakthroughs on Day 3. It was Ollie Pope who helped England recover from early blows and steered them to a big total of 420 riding on his marathon 196 to hand India a challenging target. Indian batting then suffered a monumental collapse and fell prey to Tom Hartley's back-breaking spell.

Meanwhile, Hartley was in a state of disbelief as he said the moment will not sink in for a while.

“It's unbelievable, will not sink in for a while to be honest. I don't think there was a lot of help, I had to keep a cool head. It was a tough one (on the first innings bowling effort), it didn't spin as much as I thought, and I had a chat with Stokes, McCullum and the team management. The dressing room has great vibes, it's a fantastic dressing room, one of the best. It's just the Stokes way, just bowl into the surface and we came out on top today," Hartley said after England's stunning win over India in the first Test.

“Getting a few runs always helps (on his second innings batting effort), it also helped me get to know about the pitch a lot more. Just unbelievable to be honest. I didn't have to bowl as fast as I thought (in the first innings), watching Ash and Jadeja, we knew we could take some time - change the length and the trajectory when we bowled for the second time,” Hartley added.

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