On a turning track in Hyderabad, India suffered a defeat after being 190 runs ahead in the first innings against England. Playing a Test match in India for the first time under the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes regime, England were typically unorthodox in their approach and it worked wonders for them.

Ben Duckett had warned ahead of the series that he would use the reverse sweep as a forward defence. The way England batters played wasn’t far off from that statement as they employed the sweep and all of its variations to good effect. India, on the other hand, were caught napping as their tried and tested orthodox methods didn’t get them over the line.

England scored 54 runs off 35 reverse sweep attempts in their 2nd inns of this Hyderabad Test.

It is the most runs by any team in an inns in about last 10 years of Test cricket (where shots are recorded)

The 35 times they attempted reverse sweep is also the highest.… https://t.co/I3VBlHjP0A

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) January 28, 2024

Speaking in a press conference ahead of the second Test in Vizag, Bharat said that India have been looking to pick cues from England’s methods in Hyderabad, particularly focusing on the employment of the reverse sweep.

“Playing in India, we play a lot of cricket on these tracks. It’s not that we don’t know how to sweep, reverse sweep or paddle, but on that particular day depending on the situation of the team, we as batters take our calls,” Bharat said.

“In our team meetings we spoke about the things we could have done better and yes, we certainly have few plans. [We are] definitely looking at the way how they went about the first game, playing some reverse [sweeps]. That’s something we have definitely worked on.”

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Rohit Sharma was one of the very few Indian batters to have used the reverse sweep in the Hyderabad Test, while other batters preferred using the straight bat more often than not.

Elaborating on the importance of making on-the-spot choices, Bharat said that India had practised reverse sweeps ahead of the first Test as well, but their judgement didn’t let them use that option a lot in Hyderabad.

“And it is very clear to us to bat with freedom. We also practised in the reverse [sweep] before the first game. But playing out in the centre, it’s the batter’s individual plan. If the team demands us to play in a certain way, then we are up to it.”

Playing just his sixth Test, Bharat made two important contributions with the bat. In the first innings he scored 41 off 81 balls, while in the second he scored 28 off 59, giving India hope for a brief period in the run-chase after a middle-order collapse had left them reeling.

The second Test will be played in Vizag on a surface which the England captain Ben Stokes believes “might play a little bit better initially than it did last week (in Hyderabad)”.

Reverse sweeps or not, India will be desperately hoping to bounce back and make it 1-1 heading into the third Test in Rajkot.