India take 1-0 lead after beating England by 246 runs in the second Test

India wrapped up the second Test against England by 246 runs after a remarkable collapse on day five in Vizag. England were in with a chance of avoiding defeat after starting the day at 87/2 in their chase of 405, but lost their next eight wickets for just 71 runs on either side of lunch. England were bowled out for 158, which gave India their second-biggest win over England in terms of runs – by 246 runs. India thereby took a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series.

India bowled 20.4 overs in the first hour. Even by Ravindra Jadeja’s standards, that is a ridiculous amount. If England had any hopes that all they had to do was play out 90 overs on day five, they were in for something else. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja burst through their overs and picked up the wickets of Ben Duckett and Moeen Ali on the way. All England could manage were 23 runs in the first 60 minutes.

The next hour of the morning session wasn’t so blink-and-you-miss, as Virat Kohli got his other spinner Jayant Yadav, who has a bit of a run-up, and pace bowler Mohammed Shami into the attack. But it was equally effective in terms of getting wickets. Yadav dismissed Ben Stokes with an unplayable delivery – one that an off-spinner dreams of bowling to a left-handed batsman. Then, India got the big one: Mohammed Shami trapped Joe Root plumb in front. The Englishman went for a desperate review, knowing he was the last man standing between India and a win, but it only delayed the inevitable.

From 87/2, England had sunk to 115/6 in 90 minutes on day five. That was soon to become 142/7 at lunch as Shami sent Adil Rashid packing. India wrapped up the match after lunch by taking the last three wickets within 20 minutes. And to think England were 75/0 in 50 overs just last evening. It made you wonder whether the blockathon started by Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed was in fact the right call to make on an uneven pitch. England were never really going to manage defending and saving their wickets for 150 overs. Should they have tried to score?

However, there were quite a few things that went right for England in this match, despite the margin of their defeat. Cook, Hameed, Root and Ben Stokes showed that if visiting batsmen apply themselves, they can score runs on India’s dust bowls. Stuart Broad on day four delivered one of the best spells by a quick bowler in Indian conditions, hitting the right areas and exploiting the uneven bounce. Adil Rashid also continued to trouble Indian batsmen with his wrong ‘uns. England’s performance does spring up the question: what would have happened if they had won the toss and batted first?

As for India, it was the perfect Test match, but for a couple of frustrating sessions. They won the toss, put up a big first-innings total, dismissed the opposition cheaply and then set up a record target to chase. Their collapse in the second innings after Kohli’s fall took away from their performance, as did their inability to break through the defences of Cook and Hameed for the better part of two sessions. But overall, a pleasing performance. What India will have to prepare themselves for is losing the toss on a similar surface, which is bound to turn up in the three remaining Tests. How will they perform if England win the toss and set up a big total?

England may be 1-0 down, but with three more matches to go, they are nowhere near out of this series. It’s all to play for in Mohali, Mumbai and Chennai.

Brief score:

India 455 (Virat Kohli 167, Cheteshwar Pujara 119; Moeen Ali 3/98, James Anderson 3/62) and 204 (Virat Kohli 81, Jayant Yadav 27*; Stuart Broad 4/33, Adil Rashid 4/82) beat England 255 (Ben Stokes 70, Joe Root 53; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/67, Mohammed Shami 1/28) and 158 (Alastair Cook 54; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/52, Jayant Yadav 3/30) by 246 runs.