England crumble on perishable pitch as Ashwin turns screw

Hindia march towards victory after skittling tourists for 134 hhosts boast 249-run lead with nine wickets in hand

Narendra Modi has been in Chennai during this Test and the strongman Indian prime minister might have recognised a little of himself in how Virat Kohli has wielded his power.

Kohli’s demands for a turning pitch have been exceeded, with India poised for a huge victory to level the series 1-1.

Kohli was so upset with the surface for the first Test that the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s pitch overseer was shunted aside and the India management instead took a greater role in supervising preparations for this match.

The result is a poor pitch, which made winning the toss so crucial. Kohli would be a terrible poker player, but he likes a gamble. India stacked their hopes on him calling correctly and batting first when the pitch was at its most stable, and it paid off.

Kohli did not like the pitch for the first Test because India always want surfaces to turn early so they are in the game whether batting or bowling first. They have overcooked it for this game, but it is why India are so difficult to beat at home. Lose and they can always produce a spinning pitch with treacherous bounce like this and back their players to cope better. Nothing has gone England’s way from the pitch, the toss, to umpiring decisions, but India’s senior players, led by Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, have also played better.

England were bowled out for 134, their lowest first-innings score in India, and it would have been worse had Ben Foakes not played so well for an unbeaten 42 off 107 balls. Their 195-run first-innings deficit may as well have been 395.

At 54 for one in the third innings, 249 runs ahead, India are so far out of sight they may as well be on the plane to Ahmedabad already.

Ashwin’s five for 43 was another entertaining flick through his catalogue of variations, while Axar Patel backed him up in a way that was missing from the support spinners in the first Test. Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma also threatened and England could not string together a partnership as balls exploded out of the surface.

Kohli led his team well, his bowling changes often bringing wickets, and his only mistake was allowing Ashwin to talk him into too many reviews. India have outplayed England, whose attacking off-spinner, Moeen Ali, got four wickets but was short of match practice and conceded runs at nearly five an over.

Moeen and Olly Stone wrapped up the India innings in the morning, but 329 felt at least 75 runs too many for England. Stone was outstanding in his second Test, taking three for 47, but Stuart Broad was anonymous and England’s insistence that Ben Stokes is fit to bowl is sounding hollow. Jack Leach was England’s best spinner, but he lacked support.

Rory Burns is facing a crisis. His Test career is on the line after a second successive duck, as Ishant Sharma struck with the third ball of the innings. Once again caught stuck on the crease by pace, he is in an impossible situation of having to fight his way out of trouble with no match practice. If he recovers from this situation it will be huge credit to his mental resilience.

Dom Sibley was a little unlucky, caught off the back of the bat at the top of a sweep, but with Kohli conducting the crowd and men around the bat, this was high pressure.

England’s only hope lay with Joe Root. He has been lethal with the sweep, especially hitting against the turn of left-armers. But it was more dangerous on a pitch with such prodigious spin and he became Patel’s maiden Test wicket, top-edging to short fine leg for six. It was the first time a left-arm spinner had dismissed Root sweeping for three years, a further nod to the pitch.

Dan Lawrence is young, so will earn more chances even if dropped, as feels likely after this game, but his nine off 52 balls was a slow torture.

Ashwin played him like an old pro in the final over before lunch, building up the pressure before the last ball of the morning, making him wait an age before bowling to a batsman with only survival in mind. He failed. England went in to lunch 39 for four after Lawrence prodded to short leg.

Stokes now averages 17 against Ashwin, who has dismissed him nine times in Tests, three more than any other bowler, and beat him with a full ball that turned and hit the top of off stump.

Ollie Pope resisted for 57 balls, adding 35 with Foakes in the only partnership of note, but was strangled down the leg side to Siraj’s first ball of the match, the pressure having been built by the spinners.

Ashwin’s sleight of hand, changes of pace and angle on the crease are a joy to watch, if not face, and he gives little away, conceding runs at only 1.8 an over. It was too much for tailenders and only Foakes, with good footwork and solid defence, enabled England to pass the follow-on of 130.

Another umpiring howler annoyed England, when Rohit Sharma was judged to have played a shot to an lbw with the bat behind his pad and Foakes missed a stumping to add to the gloom, but has credit in the bank after a fine return.

At the close Kohli pressed home who is in charge by marching out fully padded up to shadow bat on the outfield. He is back.