Ahmedabad: India notched up a resounding 10-wicket victory in under two days in the low-scoring third Test against England here on Thursday to grab a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
On a spinner’s paradise where the ball turned and jumped from Day 1 itself, spinners of both teams ruled the roost. But it was left-arm spinner Axar Patel, the local boy, who outshone the rest.
Having bagged seven wickets in his debut Test match at Chennai last week, Axar captured 11 wickets in this match – 6/38 in the first innings and 5/32 in the second.
Off-spinner Ashwin was an able foil, picking up seven wickets in the match, and reaching the landmark of 400 Test wickets. In the process, Ashwin became the second quickest bowler in Test history to complete the milestone, after Sri Lankan offie Muthiah Muralitharan.
It was a really eventful day and Indian batsmen had their share of scare. Resuming Day 2 at 99 for 3 in reply to England’s first-innings score of 112, India slumped to 144 all out as part-time off spinner and captain Joe Root getting incredible figures of 5/8.
Trailing by 32 runs, English batsmen were bamboozled again by Indian spinners and were skittled out for 81 in 30.4 overs.
Indian openers Rohit Sharma (25 not out) and Shubman Gill (15 not out) knocked off the required 49 runs in just 7.4 overs to finish off an amazing Test match which saw 17 wickets fall on the decisive second day.
