England 255 (Stokes 70, Bairstow 53, Root 53, Ashwin 5-67) and 142 for 7 (Bairstow 19*, Ansari 0*) need another 263 runs to beat India 455 and 204 (Kohli 81, Broad 4-33, Rashid 4-82)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
03:15
Compton: Umpire’s call leaves too much to debate
India’s bowlers took five giant leaps towards victory on the fifth and final morning of the second Test, as England’s resolve was finally cracked in a frantic session at Visakhapatnam. By lunch, they had slumped from their overnight 87 for 2 to 142 for 7, with only pride left to play for as Jonny Bairstow, on 19 not out, manned the pumps with only the tail for company.
Joe Root, once again, had been England’s most assured technician on a surface that still wasn’t spinning dramatically, but was skidding through at a hustly pace that matched India’s turbo-charged over-rate – they bowled 33.4 in the morning, including an extraordinary ten in the first half-hour as Ravi Jadeja and R Ashwin tied England in knots at a rate of knots. But, having survived an early reprieve when Virat Kohli spilled a sharp chance at leg slip, Root was eventually undone by the second new ball – pinned on the crease by a zippy nipbacker from Mohammad Shami to depart for 25 from 107 balls.
The devastating dismissal of Alastair Cook, to the final ball of the fourth evening, had left England fearing the worst when play resumed, and there was a sad inevitability about the identity of the first victim of the morning. Ben Duckett’s rich strokeplay and inventive attitude will doubtless serve him well as his England career progresses, but in this situation – and particularly against his nemesis, Ashwin – those attributes had roughly the same value as a R500 note.
Sure enough, having withstood 15 deliveries without opening his account, Duckett dropped to one knee in a bid to hit his way out of a corner, but succeeded only in gloving a sweep onto his thigh pad and into the gloves of Wriddhiman Saha behind the stumps. As he trooped disconsolately off the pitch, he might as well have walked straight onto the England bench. His record against Ashwin alone in this series makes grim reading – 40 balls, 15 runs, three wickets. He’ll be back, but surely not at Mohali next week.
Moeen Ali was the next to go, his technique against the spinners looking solid right up until the moment that Ravi Jadeja got one to grip in the rough outside off, and accelerate onto his inside edge for Kohli to complete a lobbed catch at leg gully. From 75 for 0 after 50 overs, England were now in freefall at 101 for 4 after 74 – the flip-side of their siege mentality being that India were now camping as many as five close catchers under every new batsman’s nose.
Such close attention didn’t bother Ben Stokes at first. He had been so solid in defence in the first innings, and continued his tried-and-trusted methods in a 33-ball stay. But, when India turned to the second new ball (and in the process, gave Jadeja’s fingers a rest after 25 overs on the trot had left him with the outstanding figures of 34-14-35-2), the lankier offspin of Jayant Yadav conjured up the ball of the match.
A faster, flatter offbreak from round the wicket drifted in from Jayant as Stokes played back, then spat past his edge to clip the outside of his off stump. Stokes nodded his appreciation as the bowler hurtled past in celebration, and when Root was nailed by Shami nine balls later, the teams might as well have shaken hands there and then. Instead, there was time for one more breakthrough before lunch, as Adil Rashid top-edged an attempted ramp over the slips, to give Shami his second wicket of the innings.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo