England fold for 81; India 11/0 in chase of 49 at dinner break

PTI, Feb 25, 2021, 7:13 PM IST

Ahmedabad: India looked well on course to claim only their second Test victory inside two days, reaching 11/0 in pursuit of a mere 49 against England in the day-night third game here on Thursday.

There was no end to England”s batting woes against the spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin as the side folded for 81 in its second innings.

The last time India won inside two days in a Test was in 2018, beating Afghanistan in Bengaluru.

At the break, Rohit Sharma (6) and Shubman Gill (1) were at the crease for the hosts.

Patel picked five wickets in the second essay, adding to his outstanding haul of six in the first innings as England collapsed.

Ashwin, on the other hand, added four more to his first-day spoils of three scalps to cross the 400-wicket mark in the longest format.

He became the fourth Indian after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417) to achieve the feat.

England”s scorecard bore a dismal look with all-rounder Ben Stokes 25 and Ollie Pope”s 12 being the best contributions.

Earlier, India”s first innings folded for 145 with opener Rohit Sharma top-scoring with a 66-run knock. England captain Joe Root returned career-best figures of 5/8 for his team.

Brief Scores:

England: 112 and 81 in 30.4 overs (Ben Stokes 25, Axar Patel 5/32, Ravichandra Ashwin 4/48).

India: 145 all out and 11/0 in 2 overs.