India rout England to level series
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Ashwin named man of the match
CHENNAI, India, Feb 16, (AP): Axar Patel took five wickets as India beat England by 317 runs in the second cricket Test to level the four-match series 1-1 on Tuesday. Patel became the ninth Indian bowler to pick up a fivewicket haul on Test debut as England was bowled out for 164 runs in the second innings and on the fourth day.
Ravichandran Ashwin was the last Indian spin bowler to achieve the feat, picking up 6-47 against the West Indies in 2011-12. “It is special to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut,” Patel said. “There was so much happening on the pitch. It was turning from day one itself, so we bowled tight lines and forced the batsmen to make mistakes,. Ashwin took 3-53 in the second innings in this match and finished with a match total of eight wickets as well as 106 runs in the Indian second innings. He was named man of the match. Kuldeep Yadav took 2-25 as Indian spinners accounted for all 10 wickets in the second innings and 17 wickets in the Test overall.
Moeen Ali top-scored for England with 43 off 18 balls, including five sixes. England captain Joe Root scored 33. “The toss wouldn’t have mattered much in this game to be honest..” India captain Virat Kohli said of the successful coin toss win for India on Saturday. “We didn’t panic out there looking at the turn and bounce, we showed grit, got into the game and scored 600 runs in the game. We know our bowlers would do the job for us if we put up these runs.”
The loss ended England’s run of six consecutive overseas Test wins. “Credit to India, they outplayed us in all three departments,” Root said. “It has been an education for us. You could come up with conditions like these and we have to learn from this and find a way to score runs. We could have been a bit tighter, squeeze the game a bit more and make it harder for them to score.” England won the first test, also in Chennai, by 227 runs. The win helped move India into second place on the world Test championship standings. The hosts need a 2-1 or 3-1 series’ result to qualify and play New Zealand in the final. England needs a 3-1 result to qualify for the final
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