India vs England: Ravichandaran Ashwin torments tourists to set up big Second Test triumph

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s India dominated the first two days of this Second Test, the narrative was that they had produced a pitch tailor-made for the marvellous Ravichandran Ashwin, a local hero in Chennai. But the accusations were all about Ashwin’s bowling, not his batting.

On day three, as India forged even further ahead, Ashwin added a century – his fifth in Tests – to the five-wicket haul he took on Sunday, grinding England slowly into the dusty pitch. What a joy it was to hear the Chepauk crowd – real people, not piped noise! – anticipate then celebrate a milestone that clearly meant so much to the player himself, his team-mates and the crowd.

Only Ian Botham has taken five wickets and scored a century in the same match more often than Ashwin. As he left the field having been last man out as India set England 482 to win, he would have been licking his lips at the thought of the 10 wickets still available to him; this modern great needs nine of them to reach 400 in Tests.

By stumps, he had one of them and India had three. Ashwin was into the attack in the fourth over to give England’s top order the ultimate test of their temperament and technique. He was a menace immediately, drawing edges from Rory Burns and Dom Sibley in his first over. Both survived – but not for long, with Sibley lbw to Axar Patel and Burns caught at second slip, becoming Ashwin’s sixth scalp.

Burns and Dan Lawrence, both under pressure with Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley available again for the Third Test, had looked to play positively. Now Lawrence alone has the opportunity to play himself into the XI in Ahmedabad.

BCCI

England’s experiment with a nightwatchman failed, with Jack Leach caught at leg slip off Axar for a golden duck. Out came Joe Root, with rather a lot to do, and he was extremely fortunate to survive an lbw review. At stumps, England are 53 for three.

When the crowd’s whooping and hollering had stopped, the sound of all the English complaints about the pitch were inaudible. India had scored 615 runs in the match, their No8 had scored a century, and their No11, Mohammad Siraj, was flaying sixes off Moeen Ali and Jack Leach in a last wicket stand worth 49. India could have delayed much earlier, but why would you with so much time in the game and your players having this much fun?

For India and Virat Kohli, day three was an exercise in spirit-crushing and pitch-scuffing (and the captain was actually warned for that). In a match that has moved forward rapidly, Kohli was quite happy to choke England with a slow death. Despite starting the day by losing five wickets for 51, they batted to within an hour of the scheduled close.

Kohli himself made 62, sharing 96 with Ashwin, who had not made as much as a half-century since 2017. As the chief bowling threat hurt England before he even had the ball in his hand, it felt rather like he was prodding them in the arm before punching them in the face. He zipped along playing resourceful strokes and looking to score.

After a first innings duck, Kohli oozed bloodlust and bloody-mindedness. Even his equipment made clear that this was an innings for business, not pleasure; the first innings cap was gone, replaced by his helmet. He took 19 balls off the mark and, even on a pitch like this, he looked in total control until being dismissed by Moeen for the second time in the match not long before tea.

For England it became, a trying day. Under Root’s captaincy – even in a 4-0 Ashes defeat – their spirit has not tended to sap. But as Siraj swung hard, their fine start to the day did seem a distant memory.

BCCI

For the second time in as many days, they had begun with two wickets for one run. Cheteshwar Pujara turned Moeen Ali to short leg, where Ollie Pope darted the ball back to Ben Foakes, who took the bails off. As he did so, Pujara’s bat got stuck in the dusty surface, and he failed to make his ground.

That was the first act of a special performance from Foakes, on his 28th birthday. In the next few overs, he executed exceptional stumpings to dismiss Rohit Sharma then Rishabh Pant, the two batsmen most likely to trample England with boundaries.

With Jack Leach the bowler for both, the first was an elegant piece of opportunism with Rohit barely straying from his crease. For the second, he had more time as Pant slogged, but had to contend with considerable bounce.

Foakes had taken three stumpings in the game, the first time an England keeper had done so since the great Alan Knott in 1968. In the matter of a few minutes, Foakes had pulled off more stumpings than Jos Buttler has in his 30 Tests as England’s keeper.

A couple of mild blemishes against Ashwin crept in later. After tea, he missed a pea-rolling stumping off Moeen when the ball hit the toe of the bat on the way through. And before that break, standing up to the stumps to Stuart Broad shortly before he tea, Foakes shelled Ashwin on 56. It was a devilishly tough chance (the sort that others could not create), and a welcome reminder that Foakes is human.

Moeen and Leach would finish with four second innings wickets each, and shared 14 in the match. They plugged away gallantly throughout, but Ashwin they are not.