How Team India went 2-1 up in the Test series with absolute ease!
by Abhishek Chakraborty
Having made a comeback in the series with an emphatic win in the 2nd test at Chennai, a jubilant Team India took the field, in what was only their 3rd Day/Night outing in Test cricket with the pink cherry in hand, their second on home soil at the new, majestic Motera stadium that got renamed after India’s current Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi overlooking the beautiful Sabarmati river flowing right alongside the architectural magnificence !
India and England lined up differently for the match
India had gone in with three frontline spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar while England went in with only one specialist spinner in Jack Leach.
England got the better of the toss outcome and chose to put runs on the board. Zak Cawley made a strong comeback from injury into the playing XI by notching up a quickfire 53 off 84. He looked so sure of himself at the crease, hardly did he play a false stroke while he saw the likes of Dom Sibley and Jonny Bairstow, who too was making a comeback in place of Dan Lawrence depart pretty early to their liking.
At 74/2 with Root partnering Crawley steadily, England would not have dreamt of a horrible collapse. But newbie Axar Patel had other ideas. He had got a fair bit of taste of his home turf by now. He started prowling and the pitch readily assisted soon. Ashwin too chipped in and before one could ponder upon England’s bowling options on this 22 yards laid out for the pink ball, the English first innings had wilted to a mere 112 all out!
Axar ended with figures of 6/38 while Ashwin took a 3-fer. Ishant managed to grab the solitary wicket of Sibley in what marked his 100th Test appearance for the Indian national side, becoming only the 2nd Indian fast-bowler to achieve such a feat after the legendary Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev (131) and only the 4th Indian bowler overall including the likes of Anil Kumble (132) and Harbhajan Singh (103).
Root sprang a surprise soon after Rohit’s departure
Rohit Sharma carried on from where he left off in Chennai. This track was no different, typical Indian spinning wicket, one had to stay aggressive yet patient, where the intent of scoring mattered. Something that perfectly suits Hitman’s style of play. No wonder he outscored the rest in the side even with his 66 runs off 96 deliveries.
At 34/2, seeing the unlikely back of Pujara in the hut, Kohli and Rohit strung a good partnership countering the only threat of Jack Leach after playing out a relatively long spell of the pace trio – Broad, Anderson & Archer as they had no frontline second spinner in the line up. At 98/2, into the last over of Day 1, Kohli fell prey to an ambitious cut shot to Leach who bowled it very close to the off-stump that eventually shattered the stumps off a massive inside-edge.
Trailing by a mere unlucky 13, most cricket experts predicted that a lead of 100 runs at a bare minimum is on the cards. Little did they know about the savagery of Joe Root versus the Indians, this time he had chosen to have an impact in the game with the pink ball in hand. With Rahane and Rohit departing early into the 2nd day to an ever impressive Jack Leach, English captain Joe Root chose to take matters into his own hands upon seeing the string of left handers taking over from the right handers in the batting line up then.
Root scalped all three of them in Pant, Sundar and Axar in a matter of minutes as the Indians offered very little resistance to the testing time and the responding pitch where dropping the ball in the right place at a certain pace was enough to initiate a few tricks. Root, the English part-time off spinner finished with career best figures of 5/8 alongside Leach who took a 4-fer. India managed a slim lead of 33 runs with an upbeat England side heading to bat again having made the unlikeliest of comebacks with the ball in hand.
Axar-Ashwin in tandem yet again proved to be too hot for England
The pitch debate had started with Ravichandran Ashwin needing to scalp three wickets to touch the milestone of 400 wickets tally in Test match cricket. But before Ashwin could find his rhythm, Axar was on the money right away. Crawley got bowled in the 1st ball itself, playing down the wrong line, thereby exposing his off and middle stumps which got thudded by Axar’s ever accurate delivery.
On a hattrick, Bairstow got wrapped on the pads and was given out by the on-field umpire until DRS was called for and the decision got reverted. Soon after in the next delivery, Axar bowled Bairstow through the gate. India were back right on top just after 3 deliveries into the 2nd innings. Kohli & co. could sense a clueless England side turning up on that pitch with no definite plan of attack against potent opposition spinning options.
Ben Stokes took to the crease with a renewed approach and looked sharp for his 25 runs off 34 balls but the vigil was too short-lived with his skipper Root for England’s liking and Ashwin had struck in the 2nd innings. Ashwin again struck with Ollie Pope and for his precious 400th, he chose Jofra Archer who was plumb in front with the ball hitting his left toe.
Ravichandran Ashwin became the second fastest bowler to the feat, completing it in 77 test matches next to Sri Lankan legend, Muttiah Muralitharan who did it in 72 matches and also became only the sixth spinner in the world to do so after Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (708), Anil Kumble (619), Rangana Herath (433) & Harbhajan Singh (417). He also became only the fourth Indian bowler to surpass that feat after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) & Harbhajan Singh (417).
England managed to score only 81 runs in their 2nd outing on that turning strip that only yielded 9 scalps due to its behavior as otherwise 21 wickets out of 30 so far, were taken off straighter deliveries as the batsmen got beaten in their minds and flawed techniques more than the ever suspected 22 yards in India. Axar Patel, the local boy made sure he got his 3rd 5-wicket haul in only his 2nd test match and a match figure of 11-70 !
India was set a paltry target of 49 runs that was chased off by Rohit and Gill’s opening duo at a canter in the 2nd innings in just 46 deliveries without any hiccups ! Axar grabbed the Man of the Match for his impressive outing and the match didn’t last the entirety of the two days.
The pink ball affair never ceases to surprise, it continues to inflict a lot of pressure on the batsmen as bowlers lick their lips upon the sight of it, be it a swing bowler or now, a finger spinner on aiding favorable conditions. Normalcy sets back in, as India and England will lock horns again in a week’s time back here in the Narendra Modi stadium with the red SG cork in hand. India needs to avoid a defeat in order to make it to the WTC finals in Lords, now that England too is out of the race while the Aussies stare upon with their ever keen eyes !
