NEW DELHI: A Test match that finished inside two days. India registered a comprehensive 10 wicket victory over England in the day-night Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday to take a 2-1 lead in the four match series.
The difficult spin-friendly pitch at the stadium hosting its first international match was the biggest talking point of the match. As many as 30 wickets fell inside two days, with just two going to pacers – one each to Ishant Sharma and Jofra Archer.

With the ball assisting the spinners from the very first session of the match, it was no surprise that 28 wickets out of 30 went to spinners.
Only 140.2 overs were bowled in the match, with hosts India needing just 79.2 overs to take 20 English wickets. The Indian batsmen did not fare much better, losing all of their 10 first innings wickets in 53.2 overs for a paltry total of 145 runs. India though did not give away any wicket in their successful chase of the 49 run target, which lasted just 7.4 overs.

The second day was much more dramatic than the opening day, with as many as 17 wickets falling in it in just 58.4 overs across three innings – India’s first innings, England’s second innings and finally India’s brief second innings.

On the opening day, a total of 13 wickets fell – England’s 10 first innings wickets fell for just 112 runs and India’s 3 for 99, but it turned out to be a pale shadow of what was in store on day two.
Day 2 started with visitors bundling out India for 145, with Joe Root (5-8) and Jack Leach (4-54) wreaking havoc in the first session. But the English batsmen were bamboozled again by the spin combo of Axar Patel (5-32) and Ravichandran Ashwin (4-48) in the second session as the visitors posted their lowest total – 81 against India before succumbing to a 10 wicket loss.