“He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last!” Tom Hartley talks on getting smashed six for the first ball on debut by Yashasvi Jaiswal and later comeback making England win the 1st Test.

England’s left-arm spinner, Tom Hartley, opened up about his mental approach after facing a challenging start in his Test debut against India in Hyderabad. Despite being hit for a six off his first delivery by Indian batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hartley remained resilient.

Hartley said “He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last! As a spinner, people are going to come after you. I’m fine with it if people want to come after me. I sort of have to go into a different mind-set. You look back at the ball and you think it wasn’t a bad ball. If that’s the way they want to play, you’ve just got to play with it.”

With guidance from assistant coach Jeetan Patel, he made crucial adjustments between innings, leading to a remarkable turnaround. After conceding 131 runs for two wickets in the first innings, Hartley bounced back spectacularly, claiming 7/62 in the second innings.

“When you’re playing for the first time you just run up that bit quick. And you think, well, just slow things down, let your action do the work. When I run in quick, I just tend to lose my action a bit. I just slowed it down and kept it simple, and it seemed to work,” said the spinner.

His stellar performance played a pivotal role in England’s comeback victory, as they overcame a 190-run deficit to win the match by 28 runs and take a 1-0 series lead against India.