India rout England in 4 days to level series
India rout Root & Co. in four days to level series
Normal service resumed on Tuesday as India roared back to a 317-run win over England in the second Test here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. With the fourmatch series levelled at 11, the focus now shifts to Ahmedabad’s swanky new Motera stadium where the remaining matches, including a daynight contest, will be played.
If India go on to win the series 2-1 or 3-1, they will qualify for the World Test championship final against New Zealand to be held at Lord’s in July. On the other hand, England need to win the remaining two Tests to make it to the summit clash.
Debutant Axar Patel claimed a five-wicket haul
(5/60) as England were skittled out for 164 shortly after lunch on day four.
Chasing an impossible
482, England’s ability to delay the inevitable was riding on the shoulders of Joe Root. The England skipper, who made a 92ball 33, gloved a leaping delivery off Axar to be caught at slip, soon after lunch, to leave the visitors at 116 for 8. Left-handed batsman Moeen Ali used his long handle to smash Axar for three sixes in a row. His entertaining knock (48 off 13 balls) didn’t last long as Kuldeep Yadav had Moeen stumped. It was Rishabh Pant’s fourth dismissal of the match and it ended England’s misery with a day and almost two sessions to spare.
Axar became only the second Indian left-arm spinner to take five wickets on Test debut. Dilip Doshi made the pioneering achievement against Australia at the same venue in 1979.
Axar said the conditions were helpful for spinners. “But, it was important to bowl at the right speed, because if you were too slow, there was time to adjust. So I was bowling stump-to-stump, and waiting for errors from the
batsmen. Even if we had bowled first, I don’t think it would have made a big difference because there was a lot of help from the pitch even on the first day,” said Axar.
R. Ashwin removed the ‘dancing’ Dan Lawrence off his first ball of the day and dismissed his ‘bunny’ Ben Stokes for the 10th time in his career to take his match tally to eight. He missed out on becoming only the fourth player to achieve the rare double of a century and a 10wicket haul in the same
game.
Kuldeep who was playing his first Test since January 2019 could bowl only 12.2 overs in the entire match. The ‘Chinaman’ spinner, however, knew it was for the team’s cause.
“It’s very important when your team is doing well, to keep giving them support. Axar and Ashwin were bowling well, so my job was to maintain that control. It felt like a debut for me, because I’ve not played for so long,” said Kuldeep.