Expectations are high from Virat Kohli’s boys as they tour England because India has not won any Test series on English soil in last 11 years. The last time India won a Test series against the Three Lions in England, it was under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy in 2007.

India is the favourite for winning the five-match Test series. However, if the heartbreaking loss in the series opener was anything to go by, then the visitors need to pull up their socks if they wish to script history.

In the opening Test, viewers witnessed ‘strong’ Indian battings line-ups collapsing before England’s pace attack in both the innings. Visitors were not even able to chase the modest target of 194. The second Test match of the five-match series will kick-start on 9 August.

Here are the five talking points from the first Test match between India and England:

1- Virat Kohli the lone warrior

Ahead of the first Test, the duel between star English pacer James Anderson and Virat Kohli was the most talked about, and it did live up to its hype. The way Anderson troubled the rival team’s skipper with his impeccable bowling was a treat to watch. The 36-year-old English pacer had even once gotten Virat’s scalp.

Nonetheless, taking advantage of two dropped catches, Kohli scored his maiden Test century on English soil. The 29-year-old captain kept India in the match after Sam Curran dispatched of the top order. Kohli single-handedly dragged visitors to the score of 274 after half of the Indian batters were sent back to pavilion at the score of 100.

Kohli scored a majestic 149 runs off 225 balls in the first innings followed by 51 runs off 93 deliveries in the second innings.

2- Phenomenal Sam Curran

Rookie English all-rounder Sam Curran was underestimated and ignored before the first Test. He, however, proved everyone wrong. Curran, who also won the Man of the Match award, was phenomenal in the first Test.

Curran ruined India’s upper order by sending three batsmen back to pavilion (Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul) in just 8 deliveries in the first innings. All-rounder Hardik Pandya became Curran’s fourth victim in 46th over of the game, when he had just started to stabilise Indian innings with Virat Kohli.

Curran followed his first innings performance with a maiden half-century in the second innings that guided England to a respectable total. He came to bat at number 8, when most of England’s specialist batsmen were sent back to the pavilion and scored 63 runs off 65 balls.

He also got rid of India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in the second innings.

3- Indian batting collapse

Strong Indian batting line-ups collapsed in both the innings of the opening Test matches. Barring Kohli no other Indian batter was able to counter England’s pace attack as they were removed from the crease one after the other. In the first innings, India was bowled at the score of 274 in which more than 50 per cent runs were scored by Kohli. In the second innings, the same saga continued as India were all out at the score of 162 while following the modest target of 194 runs.

4- R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma

The only positive thing for India in the first Test match was the performance of the bowlers, who showed their characters by taking 20 wickets.

Spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin put India in the driver’s seat by taking three wickets in the last session of first day’s game. Ashwin also gave India the first breakthrough by removing England opener Alastair Cook from the attack at the score of 13 and 0 in the first and second innings respectively.

Ashwin also destroyed England by bagging the wickets of Keaton Jennings and rival skipper Joe Root in the second innings.

Star Indian pacer Ishant Sharma shined with the bowl in the second innings as he removed three English batters (Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler) in a single over. Sharma also removed Dawid Malan and Stuart Broad.

5- Ben Stokes takes centre stage

All-rounder Ben Stokes drew the spotlight on him as England thrashed India by 31 runs in the first Test. Though Ben Stokes did not add much with the bat in England’s score, he was phenomenal and deserved all the praises especially because he removed Kohli at the score of 51 runs in the second innings.

Kohli was the man standing between England and victory, and by removing the 29-year-old captain from the strike Stokes helped his team emerge victorious.

He took two wickets in the first innings and bagged four wickets in the second innings.