England need to find way to halt the
Tourists pay for mistakes of first day as winning run ends Root faces tough decisions to change momentum of series
Joe Root described his side’s defeat in the second Test as an “education” and England are going to have to learn quickly if they are to stop an India team who are now properly up and running.
This was a proper hiding, England’s heaviest in India by runs alone – 317 with more than four sessions to spare – as all 10 secondinnings wickets fell to spin. Axar Patel capped his Test debut with five for 60 as England were bowled out for 164 in a result that had been predictable since the end of day one.
England’s highest partnership was 38, the last in the game, when Moeen Ali hit five sixes and became England’s top scorer in the match with 43. They were twice bowled out for under 165, the kind of score Root had been making on his own without breaking sweat, and the batsmen could not match the skills of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who produced fine knocks in different innings at times when it was tough to bat. Ravichandran Ashwin’s century was another kick in the guts.
Kohli paid tribute to the crowd, admitting he was flat in the first Test in an empty stadium. If they allow 50 per cent capacity in Ahmedabad, that equals 55,000 fans and, with Kohli fired up, England will have to somehow shut out the noise.
Even if the floodlit Test produces moments when the ball swings in the evening dew, India will still be formidable, given the strength of their pace attack.
Root insisted it was not “doom and gloom” and reacted to defeat as calmly as he did victory the week before, refusing to blame conditions. He will need a clear mind over the next few days, with some difficult decisions to be made over personnel as more changes loom.
One is for Moeen, who returns home. Root had hoped to persuade him to stay and miss the white-ball tour, but Moeen, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in Sri Lanka, needs a break and it is only fair after England allowed Jos Buttler to go home a week early and miss three, rather than two, Tests as first planned.
Moeen improved as the game wore on, but England’s spinners failed to give Root control on day one, when he had to stay in touch with India on a surface that was only going to become more treacherous.
The toss was decisive and the pitch designed for a result in fewer than five days, but England must have expected it after winning convincingly the week before. They have also shown previously they can battle away in tough conditions; you do not win six in a row away from home without being resilient. This time, they reverted to making quick judgments, being spooked by the pitch, and came up against Ashwin,
who was man of the match on his home ground.
His eight for 96 could have been more and for evidence of his potency against left-handers, just watch a rerun of his teasing of Ben Stokes. Ashwin has 17 wickets at 17.82 in the series and his hundred will only fill him with more confidence.
The talk overnight from batting coach Jonathan Trott was to be positive, England figuring defensive walls would crumble quickly. Being positive means sweeping for most England players and that was dangerous on this pitch, costing three players their wickets.
Starting on 52 for three, the aim was also to take some pride to Ahmedabad, where eight years ago England lost the first Test heavily, but Alastair Cook’s second-innings 176 showed a way to bat on spinning pitches in a series they famously turned around a week later.
This was much harder because the turn was more prodigious and England are less experienced. Dan Lawrence has never seen anything like this playing County Championship cricket at Chelmsford and tried to be assertive, but charging Ashwin’s first ball was not clever. Ashwin saw him coming and fired it down the leg side, nutmegging Lawrence, who ended up flat on his front as Rishabh Pant completed an athletic stumping.
Watching Ashwin bowl to Stokes was to be transfixed by a master dictating terms. Ashwin went over the wicket, round the wicket, varied his pace and bowled the carrom ball, while Stokes anxiously contended with the rough outside off stump. Ultimately, it was the ball that went straight on that dismissed Stokes, caught off the inside edge playing for the turn. He walked off shaking his head after making eight runs from 51 balls.
Stokes has to work out a way to combat Ashwin or India will have silenced one of England’s big guns.
Ollie Pope slog-swept Patel and was caught at deep midwicket, and Ben Foakes top-edged a dolly off wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav as England lost four for 63 in the first session.
When a fine player such as Root is riding his luck, it shows how hard it is to survive. He reached lunch thanks to Mohammed Siraj dropping an easy catch off a reverse sweep at backward point, but Patel made one leap from the pitch and all Root could do was glove to slip. He took one long, last look at the pitch before dragging himself off.
All that was left was for Moeen to freewheel five sixes, a useful cameo ahead of the Indian Premier League auction tomorrow. Misbah-ul-haq holds the record for the fastest Test fifty, off 21 balls, and Moeen was 38 off 15, but an off-balance swing against Yadav gave Pant an easy stumping. Moeen was marooned way out of his ground, and England beaten by a mile.