It was deja vu all over again for India. Just like in their previous test series(against Australia) they lost the first match by a huge margin and then got their revenge as they won the second test by a huge margin.
Having lost the first test by 227 runs, India had dropped down to 4th position on the World Test Championship ranking with England leapfrogging them to first. They needed to rally back from there on if they were to play in the WTC Finals in June 2021.
Once again being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India won the toss this time and elected to bat first. Many Cricket expert and foreign players have given there analysis on the pitch being a turning track,making it hard for Batsmens to perform.
India lost Shubman Gill quickly in the second over. Though he has already Achieved almost everything possible and had made some memorable performances with the bat, Rohit Sharma was the centre of criticism for his batting in Test recently. Despite getting some good starts he was unable to convert it into big scores.
This time he rose to the challenge. After an 85 run stand between him and Pujara for the second wicket, India found themselves in serious trouble when Skipper Virat Kohli departed for a duck after just facing 5 balls. The score after Kohli's dismissal was 86/3.
Rohit was then joined by Ajinkya Rahane. The duo added a vital stand of 162 run stand between them. Rohit would go on to complete his century, before departing for a well played knock of 161 of 231 balls with 18 fours and 2 sixes.
The pitch has started to show it's ability at that time. Soon after Sharma's wicket, Rahane was bowled out by Moeen Ali at the score of 67. India finished off the day with 300/6. Due to Rishabh Pant' Unbeaten 58 run knock, India managed to put up a total of 329 in 95.5 overs.
Rory Burns was dismissed again quickly by Ishant Sharma[ at the third ball of England's first inning]. England who are not accustomed to such spinning conditions would soon find themselves 52/5 with Sibley, Lawrence,Stokes and Root all back in the pavilion.
Due to Ollie Pope's 22 and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes's unbeaten knock of 42, England managed to avoid the follow on as they were dismissed for 134 in just 59.5 overs. Ravichandran Ashwin picked up another 5fer as he finished with figures of 5-43. They were trailing India by 196 runs and Rohit Sharma's individual score by 27 runs.
India,knowing that the pitch will be beneficial for spiners came out with one mindset is to add as much runs as possible. Virat Kohli this time played a good knock of 62 runs but all spotlight was Chennai's own local boy Ravichandran Ashwin.
Having already taken a 5fer, he would go on to slam his 5th test century to mark scenes of joy all around the MA Chidambaram Stadium. This was the third time he had scored a century and had a 5fer in the same game. He now only trails legendary Sir Ian Botham who has achieved this feat at 5 different occasions.
Due to Ashwin's brillant knock of 106, India managed to score up to 286 runs in 85.5 overs, once again silencing the critics about the hard batting condition. With the lead now up to 481, England needed 482 runs.
It was almost certain that the game was already won by India at that point. At the end of Day 3, England were reduced to 53/3. On Day 4, Debutant Axar Patel Completed his 5 fer as he picked up 5 wickets for 60 runs as England were bowled out for 164 in 54.2 overs. India won the game by a huge margin of 317 runs and levelled the series.
The last two test match will be played in Ahmedabad with the third test being a Day/Night Test starting from February 24.
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