Visakhapatnam: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets each as India beat England by 106 runs in the second Test at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Monday, to level the five-game series 1-1.
England put in a brave effort to chase a record 399, but hunting down a staggering target like that was always going to be an uphill task. They showed the positivity of continuing their uber-attacking approach, but it wasn’t sufficient as they were bowled out for 292 in 69.2 overs.
Bumrah, whose spell of 6-45 gave India a vital 171-run first-innings lead, was the pick of the bowlers again with his spell of 3-46. Bumrah finished the Visakhapatnam Test with match figures of 9-91, which is also the second-best figures for an Indian fast-bowler against England. Ashwin bowled well to take 3-72 in Vizag and is now just one wicket away from reaching 500 Test scalps.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar took a wicket each in India bouncing back from the 28-run defeat in Hyderabad with an emphatic series-squaring victory at Visakhapatnam.
The next game of the series will be held at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot on February 15.
In the morning session, England amassed 127 runs, but lost five wickets too, including of top-scorer Zak Crawley for 73, putting India in a pole position to win the match. Initially, the Indian bowlers struggled with their lines as Crawley and Rehan Ahmed hit five boundaries between themselves, though the former was cautious against a sharp Bumrah.
Rehan became the first wicket to fall for England on 23 when he was trapped plumb lbw by Axar. Ollie Pope hit the ground running with his sweep and reverse-sweep off Axar for boundaries. Crawley got his second fifty of the match in 83 balls after dancing down the pitch to chip Axar over mid-off for four.
Brief scores: India 396 and 255 beat England 253 and 292 in 69.2 overs (Zak Crawley 73, Tom Hartley 36; Jasprit Bumrah 3-46, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-72) by 106 runs