Quite simply one of England’s greatest ever victories - Chris Waters

By any standard of cricketing restoration, however, from Headingley ‘81 to Headingley 2019, this took its place among the most incredible.

On a day when Tom Hartley was transformed from Simon Kerrigan into Hedley Verity; when Joe Root delivered passable imitations of Jim Laker at his finest - after Ollie Pope had played an innings of which Wally Hammond would have been proud - England beat India by 28 runs.

It was a recovery so remarkable that even those who saw Lazarus shake off his burial garments to announce “alright, lads, owt been happening?” would surely have been stunned into open-mouthed silence.

At the halfway stage of the Hyderabad Test, at which point their obituary was in wide circulation, England were six feet under in a cricketing sense.

They trailed by 190 runs on first innings against a country which had won 36 and lost only three home Tests since 2013, winning 16 consecutive home series since 2012.

Yet, deep into an extra half-hour taken on day four, as shadows fell across a disbelieving Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Bazball achieved its best and most improbable hour, debutant Hartley fittingly taking the last wicket when Mohammed Siraj charged and was stumped, ending with 7-62 from 26.2 overs - figures in almost perfect mathematical contrast to 0-63 on the first day.

What a comeback it was from Hartley, in particular, a rags-to-riches transformation in the space of one game, and from England collectively, the sort that will do little to dispel the notion that Ben Stokes is some kind of modern-day King Midas.

“There’s no fear of defeat, no,” said the England captain later. “You lose and still wake up in the morning breathing and you’ll still have a crack at life regardless.” A motto for us all.

The catalyst for the breath of life being pumped back into the English corpse was Pope, whose 196 will still be acknowledged as one of the greatest innings by an England batsman in an overseas Test if the format is still going 100 years from now.

From clinical reverse-sweeps to audacious scoops, as an unforgiving spotlight shone on him and the team, Pope put his struggles behind him in career-defining manner.

Amid the plaudits for the young Surrey man, the supporting work of Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed and Hartley should not be forgotten; Hartley’s 57 runs in the match, indeed, was not the least impressive aspect of his contribution, one in which he experienced the full gamut of emotions.

Pope’s close catching was another key factor, giving Hartley his first two wickets after England had lifted their overnight 316-6 to 420 all-out.

Thereafter, India’s batting, missing Virat Kohli, seemed unsure what to do in pursuit of 231, the team’s work in the round not at its sharpest. India’s fielding had been village green at times - exemplified when Ravichandran Ashwin and substitute Rajat Patidar left the ball to each other as it trickled over the rope on day three - a classic case of “After you, Claude. No, after you, Cecil.”

England, too, have room for improvement.

Stokes’s captaincy was not at its best earlier in the game, and England surely erred by not picking a second seamer in James Anderson.

Their insistence that no warm-up games were required - in favour of golf in a different land - was also exposed by Pope and Hartley’s recoveries later in the piece, building on uncertain starts to the contest.

Given greater protection in the second innings, Hartley responded by throwing the ball up and attacking with more vigour.

Rehan, the leg-spinner, a fine prospect playing only his second Test, was not as successful, and it seems reasonable to suppose that he might be withdrawn following match figures of 2-138 from 30 overs for the second match starting in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

As England’s supporters celebrated long into the night, or long into the lazy Sunday afternoon back in the UK, it was a great day, too, for Test cricket.

In Brisbane, a callow West Indies produced a sensational upset, beating Australia by eight runs.

Shamar Joseph, a 24-year-old playing only his second Test, after quitting a job as a security guard, shrugged off a suspected broken toe to take seven wickets.

“I wasn’t even going to come to the ground today,” he said after West Indies secured their first win against Australia for 21 years, and their first Down Under since 1997. “I must give a shout-out to the doctor - he’s amazing.”

Yes, well done, doc, and well done West Indies and England especially.

Lazarus himself would have been proud.