In the wake of England's dramatic five-wicket win against India in the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar complimented the Ben Stokes team for defying one of the oldest myths of Test cricket — that pursuing large totals in the fourth innings is practically impossible.
On the last day at Headingley, opener Ben Duckett stole the show with a stunning 149, leading England to a winning chase of 371 runs in the last session — their second-largest fourth innings chase in Test cricket history. The victory put England ahead by 1-0 in the five-match series and justified Stokes' aggressive move to bowl first.
“Hats off to this England side led by Ben Stokes. They’ve taken what used to be a taboo in Test cricket — that chasing 250 or 300-plus in the final innings is near impossible — and completely turned it on its head,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar. “Regardless of pitch conditions or pressure, they’ve looked that belief in the face and said, ‘We’re going to think differently.’ They’ve begun treating those targets as achievable.”
He observed the psychological turnabout in pressure during such pursuits: "And guess what — even on Day 5, it's the fielding side that actually feels more pressure, because now, they're the ones who have to seal a victory. That's the mental shift."
Manjrekar attributed England's opening pair with setting the base of the chase. "The platform was set beautifully by Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley," he stated. "Joe Root, of course, is always there when England are chasing down something big."
But he also admitted that India's job got harder as the day went on. "Unfortunately for India, I have to say, the pitch went completely flat during the morning session. Bumrah gave it everything, so did the other seamers, but the surface just went to sleep. Suddenly, it started playing like an Arun Jaitley Stadium day-five pitch — completely dead. And that's what made India's job of winning the game so much harder."
Turning to local hero Joe Root, who remained unbeaten on 53 and took England through the final stages, Manjrekar referred back to the batter's consistency across formats.
This is something he's developed a habit of — even in a different format," he explained. "Recently in 50-over cricket, he had a wonderful innings where he stayed 160 not out in a massive run chase, and the second-best contribution in that innings was about 50 or 60.
He went on, "That's Joe Root — one of the greats. It's always nice to see the likes of Joe Root and Kane Williamson in Test cricket. We don't see them enough in this corner of the world and when we do, we're reminded of the quality of batters playing worldwide.
Looking at Root's calm demeanor following the downfall of Ben Stokes, Manjrekar said, "If India had been able to get Root at that stage, then there would have been some mess and chaos in the English camp. But Joe Root — he has his roots deeply ingrained in the pitch. It's extremely difficult to get him out once he's settled. That's what makes him special."
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