England vs India: Joe Root heaps praise on his bowlers after first Test win

England wrapped up a thrilling 31-run victory to go 1-0 up in the five-match series

Joe Root heaped praise on his bowlers after England skittled out India to win the first Test at Edgbaston.

Ben Stokes took the crucial wicket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli on the final morning to finally expose the tail before returning to claim the last wicket of Hardik Pandya to seal a 31-run victory to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.

The match finished well inside four days thanks largely to some superb bowling from both sides and Root credits both teams' attacks for what was a thrilling contest.

"I'm obviously thrilled to bits," he said afterwards. It was a fantastic team performance, there's been ups and downs throughout but credit has to go to both bowling sides more than anything.

Stokes was the star of the show on the final morning (REUTERS)

"The easy thing to do is criticise the batters but it was obviously a very challenging pitch to take as many wickets as has gone down over the course of three and a bit days.

"I asked the guys to go out there and play with some passion and show some belief and if we stayed calm throughout then we would give ourselves the best chance and that's exactly what happened."

The England captain was also eager to praise the performance of Sam Curran, whose counter-attacking 63 in the second innings swung the momentum of the match.

He added: "He had a brilliant game. He didn't seem to feel any sort of pressure there with the bat as well and seems to just love the occasion. He's great to have in the side, it's like having two Ben Stokes which is a great thing. He's a very exciting, promising cricketer."

Curran was named man of the match in just his second Test and the 20-year-old Surrey all-rounder admitted he was in dreamland.

Curran batted England to a defendable total on Friday afternoon (Getty Images)

He said: "I can't take it all in, this is all pretty special. It feels like I'm dreaming but I'm sure I'll sleep pretty well tonight because I didn't get any sleep last night! It's all pretty awesome, I'm just trying to take it all in.

"It's what I dreamt of growing up the whole time, playing cricket in front of these big crowds and with all these players I've seen growing up. It's all pretty special and I'm just trying to learn everything every day."

Despite the loss, India skipper Kohli was keen to take the positives from what he felt was a thrilling Test match, but admits his side need to improve with the bat.

Kohli knows India must improve with the bat (Getty Images)

He said: "It was a great game of cricket, great for everyone watching. I'm glad to be part of such an exciting Test match.

"We definitely need to apply ourselves more with the bat. We've just got to be positive, fearless, enjoy our cricket and try and take the negatives out of the equation, look at the positives and try and build on those."

He added: "They (England) were relentless in the areas that they hit and they made us work hard for those runs. Definitely could have applied ourselves better but I'm still proud of the fight that we showed and it sets up the series really nicely, it's going to be exciting for people to watch."