India wins 2nd Test Match against England in Chennai

India has bounced back in style in the 2nd Test Match in Chennai to tie the four-match series at 1-1. The victory seemed a foregone conclusion as we headed into the fourth day’s play, but the Indians wasted no time in picking up the remaining 7 English wickets to win the test by a mammoth 317 runs. It was a high-class performance from the Indians, set up by two of the veterans, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. Rohit scored a sublime 161 in the first innings of the Test Match on a track that offered significant turn and bounce. Ashwin on the other hand continued his form from the previous game to pick up 8 wickets in the match on top of scoring his 5th Test Century.

England was all-out for only 164 on the final day as they needed 482 runs to win the Test Match. This defeat snapped their 6-game winning streak in the subcontinent and is their largest defeat in Asia in terms of runs (317).

R Ashwin started the proceedings in the morning by taking the first two wickets of the day. The first was thanks to a fine piece of work by Rishabh Pant to stump Daniel Lawrence who ran down the track. He also enticed Ben Stokes into edging the ball to Virat Kohli at second slip in what was the 10th time Ashwin has picked up the Englishman’s wicket in Test Cricket.

The rest were picked up by the remaining Indian spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. Axar bowled with great control and varied his speeds nicely as he picked up his first 5 wicket haul in Test Cricket on his debut. Kuldeep Yadav chipped in with two wickets towards the end on his comeback game in the Indian side after spending some time on the side-lines. The other star of the day was Rishabh Pant, who has improved greatly behind the stumps. Pant took two stunning diving catches in England’s first innings and looked at ease against the spinners on Day 4 much to the delight of the Indian management and Virat Kohli.

The series now moves on to the newly opened Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad for the Day-Night Test Match which will use the pink ball. India will look to continue this momentum from the second test while England will be hoping that the return of Archer, Anderson and Bairstow to the side can give them the boost they need to topple this Indian juggernaut.

This victory has lifted India to the second position in the ICC World Test Championship table behind New Zealand. India will need to avoid defeat in the remaining 2 games and win the series 2-1 or 3-1 to qualify for the final at the home of cricket. England on the other hand has slipped to fourth in the table and will need to win both of the games in Ahmedabad to have the opportunity to face New Zealand at Lord’s.