The version of India that every fan and cricket experts were expecting to see before the start of the series, finally arrived, although a Test match late. While the last game proved to be a rather uncharacteristic game for the Indians which surprised many, the second Test saw the ruthlessness and complete domination by the hosts as the buoyant England team capitulated completely in both the innings to hand India a chance to come roaring back in the series and the race for the World Championship Final.
There were many architects for India on a pitch that sparked a wide range of debates from the experts across the world, but the hosts had a point to prove that they are a better side in their own conditions and the occasion could not have been greater when the series and the reputation of being invincible at home were at stake. Rohit stood a class apart playing a splendid inning of 161 while Ashwin taught the Englishmen the art of both bowling and batting on such pitches, while Rahane and Pant chipped in valuable contributions in the first innings.
Rohit Sharma was exemplary to start off the proceedings and he was under serious pressure after trails of poor scores in the first Test and the two Tests against Australia. On a pitch that had seen the better of his other teammates who have had better credentials in Test matches, Rohit set a template for the batsmen on how to bat on such pitches, and still, he remained the highest scorer till the end of the game.
In some sort, it was a career-defining innings from him where he proved the point why the team management keeps on backing him even when he fails to convert big and throws his big wicket in pursuit of expansive shots.
Ajinkya Rahane was brilliant as well and the confidence Kohli had shown on him before the Test match was repaid with a partnership with Rohit that neutralised and battered the England spinners.
England were guilty of being accurate on the first day and the score of 300 runs on the first day was already a situation that had gone out of their hands. Their spinners could produce some magical deliveries to get the best of even Virat Kohli, but the lack of control and consistency in the line proved detrimental for them in the first innings. Moeen Ali came into this Test after spending the entire length of the tour of Sri Lanka in quarantine. Ironically, he was brought in as the replacement for Dominic Bess who picked up wickets but was ineffective in giving skipper Root some sort of control to check India running away with the game.
Jack Leach was more accurate of the two spinners, but desperate Root over bowled him on the spinning surface and he too started to dish out loose balls to Rohit and Rahane to capitalise.
Although they clogged India back after the twin strikes of Rohit and Rahane on the first day, the score of 329 was good enough to send a stern warning on this pitch. England were under pressure with the amount of turn and bounce on offer to Indian spinners, and their fears were not unreasonable.
Their openers were gone even before Ashwin settled in his spell and especially Dominic Sibley came with the premeditated thought of sweeping the ball having seen his skipper do it successfully on similar pitches in Sri Lanka. However, this pitch and the pace of Indian spinners were a bit different from the challenges they had faced in the recent past.
Joe Root has been playing like Don Bradman in Test matches this year, but the law of averages finally caught the English skipper when his team badly needed him to perform.
It has been a season of Indian debutants to shine and Axar Patel was the latest member to ride on the bandwagon. He was set to play in the last game but missed out due to injury, but he could not have asked for a more conducive pitch to aid his type of bowling. The pitch needed the spinners to bowl on or around the lien of stumps and he as the perfect man to do so, and hence he was missed by India in the last game.
He got the big wicket of Root in the first innings, while followed it up with a stupendous five-wicket haul to make the most of the pitch.
England did not do much wrong in this game but were still outplayed by India who looked on a mission to avenge the loss in the first Test. They gambled on putting out a surface that assisted spinners from the first day and it could have gone either way if they had faced another collapse, but the skills and temperament in their batting order stood firm and England’s limitations were exposed.
Coming into the fourth day, the writing was on the wall for Root’s men, and any chance of magical comeback started to unravel when Ashwin foxed Dan Lawrence even before delivering his wicket-taking ball. The off-spinner was all over England’s makeshift number three and the effects of playing on his mind were telling in the second innings. Lawrence was guilty of premeditating playing Ashwin coming down the wicket and the off-spinner was too wily to beat him on the line.
There were no chances of England saving the game, but it was more of earning some confidence before the pink ball Test for which they put all at stake by resting James Anderson, but all of that hopes were shattered as well when Stokes was once again done in by Ashwin, while Axar was too accurate for the resilience of Root. The smile that the England skipper offered after delivery from Axar took his glove after spitting off the surface like a cobra was the fitting end of England’s defiance and their helplessness.
India were lucky enough that Kohli finally broke the chain of losing the toss but he was bullish in his assertion after the game that the nature of the pitch made the toss irrelevant as he had the resources at his disposal to run through the England batting line up even on the first day. Kohli was back to his fiery best while on the filed, but he too will do well to realise at times his behaviours did not look fitting to the stature he holds in world cricket.
Ravichandran Ashwin was adjudged man of the match for his splendid innings with the bat and eight wickets across the two innings. He missed out narrowly on joining Sir Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Shakib Al Hasan in the special list of players who have had a ton and 10 wicket haul in a Test match, but his delight after completing the century and addressing the crowd in his native Tamil must have been enough to stamp his credentials as the biggest match winner for India on home soil.
Now, the sides have higher stakes in next game and both Kohli and Root reiterated the importance of the pink ball Test scheduled to start on February 24 in Motera, Ahmedabad. Both India and England will bring one more seamer in their line up and while Root will welcome Anderson back, India too will welcome Jasprit Bumrah.