In response to the defeat in the first test, India won a brilliant 317-run victory against England in the second test. With this win, India levelled the 4-match series 1-1.
Score: India – 329/10, 286/10; England – 134/10, 164/10
Winning the toss had a greater impact on winning the game in Chennai pitch – in both first and second test.
After winning the toss, India elected to bat first and was able to put an impressive first innings total (329) on the board with Rohit Sharma scoring a brilliant 161. By the end of India’s batting, the pitch was turning in favour of spin bowling, making it hard for English batsmen hard to play. They were only able to score 134 in the first innings and thus India was able to put up a massive lead of 195. All-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin took five wickets and led the Indian bowling attack.
Luckily, England was able to avoid the follow on, and India was forced to bat for the second innings. Even though India’s top order batsmen failed to score well, skipper Virat Kohli and Ravi Ashwin made sure the team had enough score to fight with the visitors. Virat Kohli scored a brilliant half-century (62), while Ashwin scored a spectacular century (106) on the hard surface. Their spinners, Moeen Ali and Jack Leach, took four wickets each and confined India’s score to less than 300. The host was able to add 286 runs in its second innings and set a mammoth target of 481.
Even though England had two full days to chase this huge total, it was pretty sure that it was impossible for them to win or even level the match as the pitch was hard for the batsmen to play. As it was expected that spinners will rule the match, this time Axar Patel took stunning five wickets, while Ashwin took three and kuldeep Yadav two. And thus the game ended on the fourth day itself, as team India registered a remarkable victory after England got all out for 164.