Former England skipper Nasser Hussain is mighty impressed with the kind of mental strength left-arm spinner Tom Hartley showed in the first Test at Hyderabad, against India. He not only picked up seven wickets in the second innings to hand India a 28-run defeat, but also made a solid comeback in the second innings, after being taken to the cleaners in the first.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Hussain also praised skipper Ben Stokes, who stood behind Hartley solidly and brought him on early in the second innings. “Yeah, absolutely. I think you forget the nerves, the pressure, the step-up in a standard when you’re making your Test match debut. I think when you’re off the field, you forget how much you’re under pressure and the nerves get to you and in that first innings he didn’t particularly bowl well.”
“His variation in length, he would have been disappointed himself. But I thought the way Stokes handled him and kept him on when others would have taken him off and bowled Joe Root to the left-hander Jaiswal. Well, Stokes always backs his man. He always has done, but the credit has to go man himself, Tom Hartley,” said Hussain.
“In the cauldron of a Test match in India when the whole world is talking about you and saying, ‘Are you a Test match cricketer?’ second time round to go out and bowl the way you are?'”
“But the way he did it is not just about the ability to play international cricket. It’s about mental strength as well and Hartley has shown, today and in the last couple of days, he is very strong mentally,” added Hussain.
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