India vs. England First Test Highlights, Hyderabad

Tom Hartley became the ninth England spinner (and eighteenth from all countries) to open the bowling on debut. The last England spinner to do so was Jack White against Australia at Leeds in 1921. Of the eighteen, ten opened in the first match innings with the remaining eight, including Hartley, bowling in the second match innings. The first such instance was in 1880 and the last was by Matthew Kuhnemann for Australia against India at Delhi in 2023. There were no instances after 1921 until 2012. Five of the eighteen spinners have delivered the first ball of the Test. Nine of the eighteen have been for England.
Hartley, like Sohag Gazi for Bangladesh against West Indies at Dhaka in 2012, was hit for six from his first ball. Gazi, though, bowled the first ball of the match. Both conceded two sixes in their first over.
England lost ten wickets bowled, their most in a Test in India surpassing the nine at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1961-62. They also lost six on that occasion in one innings, the same as their second innings in Hyderabad during the recently-concluded Test.
The 378 runs conceded by England's spinners in the Indian first innings is the eleventh most by England in an innings. Their highest is 484, also against India, at Chennai in 2016-17.
The 547 runs conceded by England's spinners in the match is their fifth-highest in all Tests. Their most is 618 against Australia at Adelaide in 1924-25.
India's spinners conceded 520 runs in the match, their tenth-highest in India. Their highest (611) came against England at Kanpur in 1961-62.
India's first innings saw only their second occasion of three of their players reaching 80 but with no-one going on to a century. Their last such occasion was against Pakistan at Lahore in 1978-79.
England's victory, after conceding a first innings deficit of 190, is the second-highest by any team against India in India. The highest is by Australia who conceded 274 at Kolkata in 2000-01 and won by 171 runs after following on.
Hartley's 7 for 62 in the second innings is the second-best debut analysis (in one innings) by an England bowler in India behind only John Lever's 7 for 46 at Delhi in 1976-77. Hartley's match figures of 9-193 are also the second-best, behind Lever's 10-70 at Delhi in 1976-77, by an England bowler making his Test debut, in India.
Hartley's analysis is also the fourth-best by any debutante against India in India. South Africa's Lance Klusener, with 8 for 64 at Calcutta in 1996-97, heads the list.
Hartley's analysis is the best at Hyderabd's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium surpassing Ravichandran Ashwin's 6 for 31 against New Zealand in 2012.
The England second innings saw the twelfth occasion of their having four or more 50+ partnerships in an innings in India. Their most is 5 at Bombay's (now Mumbai) Gymkhana ground in 1933-34 and their last occasion was at Chennai in 2020-21.
Ollie Pope's 196 is the highest score against India in India by any team's number 3 since Hashim Amla made 253* at Nagpur in 2009-10.
Pope's score is also the second-highest by an England number 3 in India with only Mike Gatting's 207 at Madras (now Chennai) in 1984-85 being higher.
Pope's score is the second-highest by a visiting player at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium and is behind only the England coach, Brendon McCullum, when playing for New Zealand in 2010-11. McCullum scored 225.
The England second innings is the eleventh occasion of a team containing one centurion (with a score of over 180) and no other player reaching fifty. There have been two such occasions by England: at Edgbaston in 1986 against India, Mike Gatting made 183* out of 390 with Derek Pringle second highest scorer with 44 and at The Oval in 1950 Len Hutton's 202* was the top score out of 344 with Denis Compton next highest with 44.
The eighteen wickets taken by England's spinners in the Test is their second best against India in India. They had previously taken nineteen at Mumbai in 2012-13 and Kanpur in 1951-52.
The Test saw England's twenty-second occasion where their pace bowlers - in this case, just Mark Wood - failed to take a wicket in the match.
England's 28-run victory is their narrowest (by runs) against India and is the joint-narrowest between the two countries, India having also secured a 28-run win at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1972-73.
England's win is their fifteenth in 65 Tests played in India. This was their first Test at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.