AHMEDABAD, India: India crushed England by 10 wickets on Thursday in a rare two day Test triumph that winning captain Virat Kohli said had been “bizarre”.
Spinner Axar Patel took 11 wickets over two innings as India outplayed their rivals in all departments in the day-night game to take a 2-1 lead in the four match series.
Rohit Sharma hit a six to see India to their meagre second innings target of 49 without losing a wicket in the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
“I have never been part of a Test match where things have moved so quickly,” said Kohli.
“It was bizarre that out of the 30 wickets, 21 were off straight balls,” he said praising his spin bowlers but hitting out at the batsmen on both sides.
“The result went our way but the quality of batting was not at all up to standard from both teams to be very honest,” said Kohli, who has now beaten Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indian record of 21 Test wins at home as captain.
England captain Joe Root, who won the toss, chose to bat and then saw two dramatic collapses, was shocked by the defeat but insisted it would not “define” his side that won the first Test so convincingly.
“We will use the hurt from this week as motivation going into that last game. We will come back stronger for it,” he insisted.
Spinners ruled the contest claiming 28 of the 30 wickets that fell on the viciously turning track.
It was only the second Test in India’s cricket history to end in two days. The last was their thrashing of Afghanistan on their Test debut in Bangalore in 2018 and there have been less than 25 in Test history.
England’s last two-day Test was when they beat West Indies at Headingly in 2000.
The result rules England out of contention for the World Test Championship final. India need a win or draw in the fourth and final Test to book their meeting with New Zealand at Lord’s in June.
Ashwin 400
England were skittled out for 112 and 81 and Patel has now taken at least five wickets in three of the last four innings of the series. India scored 145 in their first innings.
Patel said he thrives on the mind games with opposing batsmen. “Strangle their runs and then get them to make mistakes. Bowling more and more dot balls is my strength,” said the new spin hero.
Patel was brilliantly supported by Ravichandran Ashwin who took seven wickets in the match and went past 400 Test scalps when he trapped Jofra Archer lbw for nought. He is the fourth Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417) to pass 400 wickets.
Patel struck with the first ball of the innings to send back Zak Crawley and got Jonny Bairstow for his second straight zero on the third delivery.
The final match starts on March 4 in the same stadium.
— AFP
Scoreboard
England 1st innings
Z Crawley lbw Axar 53
D Sibley c Rohit b Ishant 0
Jonny Bairstow lbw Axar 0
Root lbw R Ashwin 17
Stokes lbw Axar 6
Pope b R Ashwin 1
Foakes b Axar 12
Archer b Axar 11
Leach c Pujara b Ashwin 3
Broad c Bumrah b Axar 3
Anderson not out 0
Extras (1b 2lb 3nb) 6
Total (48.4 overs) 112 all out
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-27, 3-74, 4-80, 5-81, 6-81, 7-93, 8-98, 9-105
Bowling: Ishant Sharma 5-1-26-1, Jasprit Bumrah 6-3-19-0, Axar Patel 21.4-6-38-6, Ravichandran Ashwin 16-6-26-3
India 1st innings
Rohit Sharma lbw Leach 66
S Gill c Crawley b Archer 11
Pujara lbw Leach 0
Kohli b Leach 27
Rahane lbw Leach 7
Pant c Foakes b Root 1
Ashwin c Crawley b Root 17
Sundar b Root 0
Axar c Sibley b Root 0
Ishant not out 10
Bumrah lbw Root 1
Extras (2b, 2lb, 1w) 5
Total (53.2 overs) 145 all out
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-34, 3-98, 4-114, 5-115, 6-117, 7-125, 8-125, 9-134
Bowling: James Anderson 13-8-20-0, Stuart Broad 6-1-16-0, Jofra Archer 5-2-24-1, Jack Leach 20-2-54-4, Ben Stokes 3-0-19-0, Joe Root 6.2-3-8-5
England 2nd innings
Crawley b Axar 0
Sibley c Pant b Axar 7
Bairstow b Axar 0
Joe Root lbw Axar 19
Stokes lbw Ashwin 25
Pope b Ashwin 12
Foakes lbw Axar 8
Archer lbw Ashwin 0
Leach c Rahane b Ashwin 9
Broad not out 1
Anderson c Pant b Sundar 0
Extras 0
Total (30.4 overs) 81 all out
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-19, 4-50, 5-56, 6-66, 7-68, 8-80, 9-80
Bowling: Axar Patel 15-0-32-5, R Ashwin 15-3-48-4, Washington Sundar 0.4-0-1-1
India 2nd innings
Rohit Sharma not out 25
Shubman Gill not out 15
Extras (8b, 1lb) 9
Total (7.4 overs) 49-0
Bowling: Jack Leach 4-1-15-0, Joe Root 3.4-0-25-0
FACTBOX
Shortest matches in Tests since 1900
All 13 matches were completed in two days
1912 - Australia beat South Africa by an innings and 88 runs in Manchester
1912 - England beat South Africa by 10 wickets in London
1921 - Australia beat England by 10 wickets in Nottingham
1931 - Australia beat West Indies by an innings and 122 runs in Melbourne
1936 - Australia beat South Africa by an innings and 184 runs in Johannesburg
1946 - Australia beat New Zealand by an innings and 103 runs in Wellington
2000 - England beat West Indies by an innings and 39 runs in Leeds
2002 - Australia beat Pakistan by an innings and 198 runs in Sharjah
2005 - South Africa beat Zimbabwe by an innings and 21 runs in Cape Town
2005 - New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by an innings and 294 runs in Harare
2017 - South Africa beat Zimbabwe by an innings and 120 runs in Port Elizabeth
2018 - India beat Afghanistan by an innings and 262 runs in Bengaluru
2021 - India beat England by 10 wickets in Ahmedabad
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