If there was one man in the entire world who felt on top of the world on January 28, it was England Tom Hartley, left-arm bowler, who not only recorded a 7-wicket haul in the 4th innings of his first Test outing but also snatched victories from the hands of India. But how did she do it? His father, Bill Hartley, revealed it: sleepless the night before day 4 in Hyderabad.
Tom Hartley brought back memories of England’s previous tour of India when they experienced something similar in the opening Test match in Chennai, the only difference being the run difference. In the first test of the 2021 tour, the Three Lions claimed victory by a huge margin of 227 runs, but were unable to repeat the antics of 2012 as they lost the next 3 tests.
This time there is hope, not even a glimmer of hope, but full confidence that the 2012 performance can be repeated and that India will once again be humiliated by England. The Indians had a team in transition when they lost their last Test series at home and this time too the situation is quite similar.
As for the visitors, everything seems to be in place, from combinations to confidence, and coupled with the never-give-up mentality, you can see exactly what Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes tried to instil it into the Test team. From trailing by 190 to setting a target of 231 and then having a debutant like Tom Hartley, only mistakes made by themselves can stop England from claiming a famous series win here.
It won’t be a surprise if England use Shoaib Bashir in the second Test to further sharpen their spin advantage. With Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Hartley on his side, it won’t take long for the youngster to adapt.
“I spoke to him and he told me he hadn’t slept that well,” reveals Tom Hartley’s father
In an interview given after his son had amassed 9 wickets in innings in the first Test, Bill Hartley revealed that on the morning of the 4th, he discovered that Tom Hartley had not gotten enough sleep due to growing tension and nervousness over his game. bowling and the result of the match.
Fast forward to later in the day (Sunday), the 24-year-old named the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, KS Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj. Bill claimed it was like he felt all the emotions at once and called it an out-of-body experience.
“Cricket is a brutal game; We talk about it being a gentleman’s game, but when you’re in the middle it’s not like that at all. Obviously he was nervous. I talked to him yesterday [on Sunday evening] and he said he hadn’t slept so well the night before and didn’t bowl as well as he was capable of. But she recovered, right? “Almost an out-of-body experience – Sunday morning was truly the excitement of the four seasons.” – said Bill Hartley.