India chronicle history at Rajkot as they surge 2-1 up in the Test series

On a day of imperious dominion, first with the bat and then with the ball, Team India razed England down to the ground as they secured a 2-1 lead in the ongoing series despite going 1-0 down at Hyderabad after the first Test.

Starting the day at 196/2, both Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav dished out a handful of good-looking strokes featuring a couple of massive hits into the V by the southpaw, while Gill continued with his stellar batting brilliance.

Despite the fall of Gill (91) and Yadav (27) in quick succession, India were never shoehorned into a spot of bother as Yashasvi Jaiswal came out to reclaim his mantle while debutant Sarfaraz Ahmed started from where he left off in the first innings.

The duo added 172 runs for the fifth wicket as Jaiswal stayed unbeaten for 214 while Sarfaraz’s feisty 68 saw India ruling the roost with an iron fist. The hosts declared at 430/4, setting up a mammoth target of 557 for England.

Despite a quickfire start for England, Mohammed Siraj’s electric enterprise on the field laced with Dhruv Jurel’s instinctive brilliance with the glove got India the first breakthrough and that too the big one of the first innings centurion, Ben Duckett (4).

Jasprit Bumrah got the better of Zak Crawley (11) next while a triple strike from Ravindra Jadeja removed Ollie Pope (3), Jonny Bairstow (4) and Joe Root (7) in quick succession.

If Jadeja’s three-star display until then was the overture that had already started to make the concourse swinging to the imminent tunes of victory, then Kuldeep Yadav’s double whammy felt like a bolt of lightning piercing the hearts of the Three Lions.

Yadav removed Ben Stokes (15) first with an absolute peach while getting the better of Rehan Ahmed (0) next as England’s batting unit was down to its knees at 50/7. Ben Foakes (16) and Tom Hartley (16) did try and knit together a show of resistance but in front of the reckoning Indian bowling attack, it was barely scratching the surface.

Foakes fell to Jadeja while Hartley was removed Ravichandran Ashwin, who returned to the team. Ravindra Jadeja struck a fifer to snuff out the English resistance, claiming Mark Wood’s wicket after his breezy knock featuring 33 runs from 15 balls. India registered their highest victory in Test cricket by the margin of runs while Ravindra Jadeja won the Player of the Match for his all-round display.