19 wickets fall to spin on Day 2; India knock England out of contention for WTC

Well, the final Test match is in Ahmedabad. Given the way the teams struggled to tackle turn on Day 2, the final Test could well have been completed in the remaining three days. It took all of little more than 5 sessions for India to wrap up the Test match. 

When the day began, the plan would have been for India to bat long and put England out of the game. With the deficit wiped out within a few overs and all the seven wickets from overnight still intact, a lead of 200 was well on the cards. And then the game ran on steroids.

The last seven wickets for India fell within a span of 31 runs and 90 balls. It felt as if the ball kept finding the pads, stumps, and the keeper’s glove more often than the bat. Just as with the England innings, the Indian innings also saw 9 wickets fall to spinners. That fact is even more incredible considering 5 of those 9 fell to Joe Root.

Arrears of just 33 runs from the first innings would have given England hope, but that soon turned to gloom as Axar knocked over Crawley off the first ball of the innings, and Bairstow within 2 more balls. England batsmen had no answer for the turning ball, and once Joe Root and Ben Stokes were dismissed, there was hardly any resistance one could’ve expected. 

A target of 49 as England folded for 81 was hardly going to trouble India. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill batted as if there was a net run rate at stake to reach the final of the ICC World Test Championship. A dominant 10-wicket win on Day 2 of a Test match saw England being knocked out of contention for the final of the World Test Championship. Anything but a loss in the final Test match will see India facing New Zealand in June at Lord’s.