New Delhi, India

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has made a bold statement after his side’s eye-catching win against India in Hyderabad on Sunday (Jan 28). Panesar, of Indian origin, reckons England could inflict a whitewash against hosts India if Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley continue to be in superb form. Pope scored 196 runs in the second innings while Hartley scalped seven wickets which helped England win by 28 runs in the first of five Test matches. The win was made more impressive as England were trailing by 190 runs after the first innings and it was the first time India lost a match on home turf after leading by more than 100 runs.

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Panesar’s bold statement

“If Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley continue to play like this it will be a whitewash, it will be 5-0 for England. It can happen if Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley play like this,” said Panesar while speaking to ANI.

“It is a very big victory, no one even imagined this was even possible. Everyone thought that England would lose after a 190 deficit but Ollie Pope had a brilliant inning one of the best innings we have seen in a long time and Rohit Sharma was clueless,” Panesar added.

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India suffer catastrophic defeat

Leading by 190 runs after the first innings, England’s master class led by Pope saw them register an empathic 28-run win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. After bowling out England for 246, India scored 436 runs in the first innings and established a 190-run lead. However, Pope’s 196-run knock helped England post a lead of 230 runs which proved to be the difference-maker. Chasing 231, India were bowled out for 202 with Tom Hartley scalping seven wickets.

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After the defeat India slipped to the fifth spot from the second in rankings and have two wins and two defeats along with a draw in their five matches of the WTC cycle. India have a win percentage of 43.33 and still have four matches remaining in the five-match Test series. England on the flip side are eighth with a win percentage of 29.16 from six matches. So far, they have won three matches, lost two and drawn one match.

The two nations will square off again in the second Test starting on Friday as India will miss out on the services of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja who are nursing injuries.