England were left out for less than 200 in five consecutive innings
| Third test, Ahmedabad (day two) |
| England 112 (Crawley 53; Axar 6-38) & 81 (Axar 5-32, Ashwin 4-48) |
| India 145 (Rohit 66, roots 5-8, leaching 4-54) & 49-0 |
| India won by 10 wickets |
| Scorecard |
England succumbed to a 10-wicket loss to India within two days of a staggering third Test in Ahmedabad.
On a barely believable day when both sides collapsed and 17 wickets fell in two sessions, India scored its fastest test victory since 1935 shortly after the last session.
England started the day with an exciting setback, converting India’s 99-3 to 145 overnight.
Faced with a 33 first innings deficit, England were defeated by 81 points when the Indian weirdos fell into turmoil again.
In a frenzied start to the innings, England lost Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow within three balls – both bowled by Axar Patel.
Ben Stokes and Joe Root briefly calmed the noisy atmosphere, but their layoffs in successive overs sparked a sad procession to England’s lowest test count in India.
The spinners were responsible for every wicket that fell that day – and 28 of the 30 in the match – Joe Root took 5-8 in the morning, Axar 5-32 and Ravichandran Ashwin 4-48, including his 400th test scalp.
India reached their goal of 49 within eight overs, an incredible game that was completed before the floodlit conditions of a day-night test had an impact.
The win gave India, which lost the First Test, an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series with one game.
England demoralized on an incredible day
If the first day of that test was remarkable – England prevailed despite winning the throw for 112 – the second was one of the most incredible in recent history.
Neither team faced a turning point, at least not until the India Chase when England was demoralized after their second weak game breakdown.
The 17 wickets fell in 53 overs for the loss of 127 runs, the match was over with almost 30 overs on the second day.
The fact that Root, a part-time off-spinner, claimed such extraordinary numbers showed the difficulties batsmen faced. The weirdos found an extravagant turn, but the gates often fell on skidding shipments.
Though England’s struggle brought them back into the competition, the skill and relentless accuracy of Axar and Ashwin proved too much for a team that also collapsed twice after losing in the second Test.
Had England completed another 100 runs India would have had a difficult chase.
Instead, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma galloped to victory under little pressure in the one-day mode to the delight of the spectators in the largest cricket stadium in the world.
England’s numerical defeat
- England held 476 balls over two innings – the fifth smallest in their Test history.
- England had fewer than 200 runs in the game for only the seventh time and the third time since 1904.
- It’s the eighth two-day test since World War II and England’s first defeat in two days since 1912.
More will follow
