Two days into this First Test, England ought really to have been thinking about damage limitation. With its fifth unused, perhaps the Bazball era’s greatest triumph yet is in the bag.
A remarkable turnaround led by Ollie Pope’s 196 and Tom Hartley’s redemptive seven-wicket haul saw Ben Stokes’s side claim a famous 28-run win in Hyderabad and a 1-0 advantage in a series that, after 48 hours, looked to have the makings of a one-sided affair.
There was, naturally, some genius from Stokes himself, too, an outrageous run-out of Ravindra Jadeja leaving India six-down with still 112 runs required and England, for the first time, firm favourites in the match.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Srikar Bharat rallied, their eighth-wicket partnership more than halving the ask from that point and seeming certain to take the contest into a fifth day.
In what would have been the evening’s penultimate over, however, Hartley beat the defences of Bharat to claim his fifth pole and hand Stokes the opportunity to turn the screw.
The skipper requested an extra half an hour to get the job done and England needed virtually all of it, Hartley striking again at its top and tail to complete the gutsiest of personal comebacks and inflict only India’s fourth home Test defeat in the last decade.
Having surrendered a 190-run first-innings deficit, and with their novice spinners comparing horribly against India’s spellbinding attack, England’s primary target two mornings ago looked to be in avoiding a demoralising innings defeat at the start of a five-match tour.
Pope’s brilliant hundred on day three had taken that prospect out of the equation and resuming unbeaten on 148 on the fourth morning, the Surrey batter set about trying to build something to defend.
With assistance from Rehan Ahmed and then Hartley once more, the overnight lead was swelled from 126 to 230, Pope falling four runs short of a double hundred when he became Jasprit Bumrah’s fourth scalp of the innings.
Even so, the vice-captain’s 10th Test innings in India had outscored the previous nine combined.
England almost enjoyed the perfect start to their hunt for 10 wickets, Mark Wood coming close in a solitary over with the new ball when he took Rohit Sharma's edge. Agonisingly, the catch slipped through Zak Crawley's fingers at slip and skipped through for four.
Stokes still took the seamer off and threw Hartley straight into the action against Yashavi Jaiswal, the man who had launched his first Test delivery into the stands on Thursday evening. Unbowed by those memories, Hartley established a groove and savoured a moment of redemption when Jaiswal flicked one firmly into Pope's hands at short-leg.
Two balls later the pair teamed up again to send Shubman Gill packing for a duck, Hartley tossing it up and Pope staying low to hang on at silly point. England were buzzing but the presence of Sharma gave cause for concern.
He swept his way to 39 before Hartley made his biggest impact yet, turning a couple before sliding one straight on into the opener's front pad. He called for DRS but threw his head back in horror as the verdict confirmed his fate.
India promoted Axar Patel from number nine to five, steering their way to tea at 95 for three, but four balls after the restart Patel fed a low caught-and-bowled straight back to Hartley.
KL Rahul, having scratched out 22, stayed back in his crease and was lbw to Joe Root, taking a review with him for good measure. India's options were thinning by the minute and when Stokes brilliantly dived and threw down the stumps to run out first-innings top-scorer Jadeja for just two, it was a hammer blow.
Shreyas Iyer prodded a struggling Leach to slip for 13 but at 119 for seven, with little room for further error, India finally regained their composure through a 57-run stand between Bharat and Ashwin.
With stumps just around the corner Hartley forced his way back into the spotlight, ripping one past Bharat's outside edge and into the top of off. That was enough encouragement for the umpires to grant the extra half-hour which gave Hartley the stage to complete his underdog tale.
Within seconds Ashwin was stumped charging down the track, a mistake Mohammed Siraj would replicate with only four balls left in the day to spark joyous celebrations.
