India win by 10 wickets against England in pink ball test

India completely outplayed England in the 3rd D/N test. Though, it wouldn’t be fare to call it a D/N game when we had only one night of play. Axar and Ashwin scripted a fairy-tale at the world’s largest stadium in Gujarat. The pitch was once again scrutinized as a result in just 5 sessions is not profitable for a test match. Nevertheless, Axar picking 11 wickets in his 4^th test was the main problem for England as they felt clueless in front of him. Combined by a solid innings by Rohit at the top, India win by 10 wickets against England.

Brief Scores:

1^st Innings (England): 112/10 (48.4 Overs). Crawley 53(84), Root 17(37), Axar 6/38, Ashwin 3/26

1^st Innings (India): 145/10 (53.2 Overs). Rohit 66(96), Kohli 27(58) Root 5/8, Leach 4/54.

2^nd Innings (England): 81/10 (30.4 Overs). Stokes 25(34), Root 19(45) Axar 5/32, Ashwin 4/48.

2^nd Innings (India): 49/0 (7.4 Overs). Rohit 25(25), Gill 15(21),Leach 0/15, Root 0/25.

Man Of The Match: Axar Patel

Poor Display Of Batting By England

England won the toss and chose to bat. Winning the toss didn’t play a huge advantage here as eventually England were bowled out for a mere 112 runs. Ishant Sharma, playing his 100^th test match got a wicket in his second over. The pacers didn’t get much help from the wicket and hence, Ashwin and Axar came to the party. Zak Crawley 53(84) was the only player who looked comfortable on this wicket but was trapped in front by Axar. Root 17(37) and Foakes 12(58) provided some resistance but rest of the batsmen fell like a stack of cards. The spin didn’t do as much damage as the straight ones but was enough to create doubts in the mind of batsmen. Local boy Axar picked up 6 wickets while Ashwin got 4, completely pushing England on the backfoot.

India Starts Well But Collapse Later

The onus was now on Indian batsmen to capitalize on the advantage given by the bowlers. Openers negotiated the new ball in the twilight period for 15 overs but then Gill 11(51) nicked one of Archer. Pujara went for a rare duck but the Rohit-Virat partnership took the game well ahead of England. Meanwhile Rohit completed his half century on a track where wickets were continuously falling on the other side. Rohirat stood there for a long time and just before stumps, Virat got played on. The collapse started in the 1^st session of day 2. India went from 114/4 to 145/10 courtesy a maiden fifer by captain Joe Root and a 4 wicket haul for Leach. Ashwin’s 17(32) and Ishant’s 10(20) proved to be vital contributions in this low scoring encounter. India finished with a lead of 33 runs with 2 more sessions of day 2 play left.

Spin Proves Fatal Once Again

An impressive batting performance with strong partnerships was the need of the hour for England. Sadly, they had neither. Our local boy became a nightmare for them as he struck 2 wickets in the first 3 balls of the innings. Root 19(45) and Stokes 25(34) began to settle in but were trapped in front by Axar and Ashwin respectively. Ashwin now has got Stokes out 11 times in 20 innings. The tail was no show in front of these spin wizards as England were bundled out for 81 leaving a 49 run target for India to chase. Axar once again got a five-for taking his wickets tally to 11 in the match. Ashwin in the meantime became the 2^nd fastest bowler to 400 wickets while the fastest Indian to achieve this feat in just 77 innings.

England’s WTC Hopes Are Killed

A 49 run target was nothing in front of an in form Rohit Sharma along with young Shubman Gill. They breezed to the total in 7.4 overs while Rohit hit a six to finish of things in style. England are now out of the WTC race while India needs to at least draw the last game to meet New Zealand at the finals. A win for England means Australia are through. So they would have a close look on the next match too.India win by 10 wickets.

Read Also : Conway misses century but helps NZ take 1-0 lead against AUS