Jasprit Bumrah crashed England’s last-ditched effort of a final dash in their quest of 399 – a record target for a fourth innings in India, and a feat that has only been exceeded on just four occasions in Test history. The star pacer was on the money once again, picking three wickets, for an overall Test tally of 9 for 91, to close out a 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam and square an enthralling series at 1-1 with three Tests to come.
As a result, Ravichandran Ashwin, eyeing a landmark 500 Test wickets, has to wait for the next game, starting February 15 in Rajkot to get to the milestone. Ashwin, who registered figures of 3 for 72 in the second innings, was left on 499 Test wickets at the end of the second Test.
The loss was only England’s third in 11 fourth-innings chases since the start of the Bazball era, and even if the target was a monumental one, their second innings score of 292 all out was still higher than the previous successful chase by a visiting team in India – West Indies’ 276 for 5 in Delhi in 1987-88.
England will blame themselves for losing the plot after resuming the fourth day’s play at a comfortable 67 for 1, as they confused themselves with two contrasting batting approaches on either side of the lunch break, to eventually end up on the losing side. In the morning session, there were signs of a counter-attack, mostly influenced by the Bazball approach, putting pressure on the Indians before the ploy backfired towards the end of the session. The post-lunch session was more about survival from the visitors, with skipper Ben Stokes and stumper Ben Foakes grinding their way to the tea break, thanks to a disciplined effort from the home bowlers.
Axar Patel got India the first breakthrough of the day, dismissing nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed with a plumb lbw from round the wicket, but not before Rehan’s 23 from 31 balls had helped to add 45 runs in 11 overs for the second wicket, giving a glimpse of England’s ambitions. Ollie Pope, the second-innings hero of the Hyderabad Test, came out with intent, scoring a first-ball boundary, making clear that England weren’t ready to grind runs.
At the other end, opener Zak Crawley made his outing memorable with yet another stellar half century that came off dumping Axar through long-off after consuming 83 balls, and while he held the innings together, Pope meant business against the left-arm spinner, picking the rest of the four boundaries during his 21-ball stay. But then came Ashwin, a largely different proposition than Axar, and the off-spinner calmed things down by ending the ominous 37-run third wicket partnership, with Rohit taking a brilliant catch at slip to send the former back.
That was wicket No. 498 for Ashwin, and 499 wouldn’t be far behind. Joe Root, nursing a damaged finger, played a wild knock of 16 from 10 balls but left a lot unanswered over the former skipper’s temperament in Bazball era as Ashwin had his man via a skied slice to point to leave the visitors tottering at 154 for 4.
England still had their hopes alive particularly after Crawley and Bairstow built their way into a 40-run stand for the fifth wicket, seeing off Axar and Ashwin, whose attacking line across the right-handers was once again challenging both edges of the bat in that familiarly subtle style. However, moments before the lunch break, Rohit’s ploy of a double-switch in the bowling attack paid rich dividend as left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah came up with the twin blows to cap a five-wicket session for India.
Brought into the attack for the first time on the day, Kuldeep struck on the final delivery of his opening over by trapping Crawley, which was confirmed by a review before Bumrah’s priceless extraction of Jonny Bairstow with a full length nipbacker, left England high and dry, and also meant Stokes was left to bat with their last four batters when play resumed in the second session.
Stokes came up with a 29-ball 11, and along with Foakes pieced together the innings with a rare display of caution after the break as England nudged past 200. But the southpaw would curse himself for the casual run out of a direct hit from Shreyas Iyer before Tom Hartley (36) and Foakes (36) came up with a final semblance of resistance, milking 55 off just 74 deliveries for the 8th wicket stand before it required India’s most lethal weapon – Bumrah to separate the duo.
Mukesh Kumar, the second pacer in the Indian attack, had a forgettable outing so far, and Shoaib Bashir’s wicket was the only consolation for him in the entire game, before Bumrah completed the formalities by getting Hartley’s off stump to take a walk like so many others before it.
India reclaim No.2 spot in WTC standings
India reclaimed the second position in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 standings after the 106-run win over England in Vizag, closing the gap behind table-toppers Australia. Rohit Sharma’s men had slipped to fifth place after losing the series opener in Hyderabad.
However, the victory in the Vizag Test has propelled them back up the rankings, pushing their point percentage to 52.77. The top half of the table remains highly competitive, with five teams separated by a mere 5% in point percentage. They have won three, lost two and drawn a game in this WTC cycle.
England, on the other hand, occupy the second-last (8th) position on the points table with a win percentage of 25.00. They have won three, lost three and drawn a game in this cycle.