England succumbed to a 10-wicket defeat inside two days in the third day-night Test against India, after an extraordinary second day’s play which saw 17 wickets fall for 176 runs.
England were bowled out for 81 in their second innings on a treacherous turning track, and that was after some earlier heroics from Joe Root – claiming a maiden Test five-for – saw India collapse to 145 all out in the morning.
It left the home side a slender target of 49 to chase, never enough runs for England to play with and defeat knocks them out of contention in the ICC World Test Championship, while they now trail 2-1 in the series heading into the final Test back at the Narendra Modi Stadium next Thursday.
- Third Test scorecard: India vs England
- Day Two in Ahmedabad – as it happened
India had started the day 99-3 in their first innings, trailing the tourists by only 13, but they too came unstuck to spin, losing their final seven wickets for 31 runs, with Root returning remarkable figures of 5 for 8 in 6.2 overs.
Suddenly, England were back in with a sniff in the Test match – only 33 runs in arrears after the first innings – but Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow were sent packing inside the opening three deliveries of their second dig and were ultimately bundled out inside a session.
Axar Patel (5-32) returned a second five-for, taking his tally to 11 for the match, while Ravichandran Ashwin (4-48) claimed his 400th Test wicket in just his 77th cap.
Root (19) and Ben Stokes (25) had offered brief hope of England building a challenging target to set India batting last, putting on 31 for the fourth wicket to see the tourists into a lead, but the pair departed within an over of each other and then Axar and Ashwin swept aside the lower order – the last seven wickets costing 31 runs.
Lacking in significant scoreboard pressure, India might light work of their chase, Rohit Sharma (25no) sealing victory with a six inside 7.4 overs.
It is only the 22nd time in the history of Test cricket a match has finished inside two days, and just the eighth instance of it since the second World War.
More to follow…
Follow text commentary from the fourth Test between India and England in Ahmedabad on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app from 4am on Thursday, March 4.
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