The Chepauk Cauldron brewed a delicious soup for the Indian team as India registered a 317-runs win against England, tied the series 1-1, moved up on the second spot in the World Test Championship, and played in front of a crowd after a dry spell of playing in empty stadiums.
Earlier in the day, England stepped on the field hoping for a miracle as they needed 320 runs against India in the 2nd Test with only 7 wickets in their hand and 53 runs on the board. But before England could find a rhythm and could start chipping down the mountain ahead of them, Dan Lawrence was stumped on a bowl by the local boy R. Ashwin.
England skipper Joe Root tried to steady the boat but there was only so much he could have done as wickets kept falling on the other end. After Lawrence, Ben Stokes came to the crease and tried to endure the Indian bowling attack. Stokes played for balls that amounted to more than 8 overs but fell prey to Ashwin’s delivery. He was sent to the pavilion at the score of 8 runs that came in 51 deliveries.
Meanwhile R. Ashwin, Axar Patel and later in the day, Kuldeep Yadav kept troubling the English batsmen and did not give them much space to breathe and find a solid footing. Ollie Pope who was playing on 12 runs got caught by Ishant Sharma in a beautiful delivery by spinner Axar Patel. With Pope’s wicket, Indian fans started to catch the smell of victory in the air as England was in a crumbling state with just 110 runs on the board having lost 6 crucial wickets.
It was at this point that Kuldeep Yadav finally scalped a wicket of Ben Foakes (2) with the batsman sweeping the ball straight into the hands of Axar Patel. Before lunch, visitors lost 4 wickets and still needed 366 more runs to win.
After lunch, Axar Patel’s clinical delivery removed Joe Root, the only man who had the potential to bring England closer to the monumental total. Joe Root was out on 33 and for the first time in 8 Tests, Root failed to score a half-century in an innings. With Root’s wicket, England were thrown almost on the brink of a defeat with a paltry 116 runs on board and only 2 wickets in hand.
In the end, spinner Moeen Ali and pace expert Stuard Broad tried to fight back the way only tailenders could have: throwing caution away and slamming shots.
Ali slammed 3 back-to-back sixes of Axar Patel and made it look like he was auditioning for the upcoming IPL auctions. Stuard Broad also hit a 4 off Kuldeep Yadav, but it all came down to the inevitable end as Moen Ali was stumped off of Kuldeep Yadav’s bowl. The England team was sent back to the dressing room with just 164 runs on the board, just 3 runs more than what Rohit Sharma single-handedly made in his first innings.
India after facing an excruciating defeat in the previous Test against England came back and showed grit and intention. For the last inning, Axar Patel came out as a shining star scalping 5 wickets, and Ashwin joining the party taking 3 wickets.
