Ben Duckett insisted there was never any question of Tom Hartley “hiding away” after his first ball in Test cricket was hit for six, with England rallying behind the debutant.
After being bowled out for 246, the tourists opted to open the bowling with their Lancastrian newcomer.
The left-arm spinner is used to fronting up with the new ball in limited-overs cricket but had never done so in his first-class career before he went head-to-head with Yashavi Jaiswal in front of 30,000 fans in Hyderabad.
It was not a bad loosener but disappeared all the way over the ropes as Jaiswal threw everything into a slog sweep that set the tone for India’s aggressive response of 119 for one.
The blow meant the 24-year-old joined a short list of players who have endured such a start, with Zimbabwe’s Sohag Gazi and South Africa’s Faf Du Plessis thought to be the only others, and another six followed just four balls later.
More conservative captains might have ended the experiment early but, although the runs continued to flow, Ben Stokes gave his new team-mate an uninterrupted nine-over spell costing 63 runs.
He came close to repaying some of that faith with a close lbw shout against Shubman Gill and Duckett says Hartley was guaranteed resounding support.
“We all back Tommy,” said the opener. “You know what Stokesy is like, he will throw him the ball and back him all day.
“He gives him however many overs to bowl, where other captains might take you off after two overs and then you’re then hiding away for the rest of the game.
“That’s Stokesy: he keeps bowling him and Tom nearly gets Shubman at the end. I’m not quite sure how that is going over the stumps, but he came back really well. I wouldn’t say I appreciated it but he (Jaiswal) played well too.”
Duckett earlier shared a bright opening stand of 55 with Zak Crawley, a partnership which proved something of a false dawn as regular wickets followed them for the rest of their innings.
Stokes was the pick of the batters with a battling 70 from number six, including three sixes and six fours.
It was his first action of note since surgery on his left knee at the end of November and the skipper looked fighting fit as he worked hard to build a competitive total.
There was plenty of turn on offer throughout the day and if, as expected, there is more where that came from, Duckett feels England may be in a better position than they seem.
“I think we were over par to be honest. It was a tricky day one pitch with consistent spin from early on,” he said.
“Stokesy, to get us to where we are, was fantastic. Come day three, day four that could be a match-winning knock if the pitch keeps getting harder to bat on.
“Pay credit to India, they played well tonight and were really attacking. They don’t always go about it like that, so it shows they think the pitch is going to get quite a bit worse. That’s good signs for us.”
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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