India produced a magnificent performance as they trounced England by 246 runs in Vizag to take a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series on Monday.
Chasing an improbable 405, England were bowled out for 158 after the lunch break to give the hosts their second biggest victory in terms of runs against the visitors.
Having defended doggedly on the fourth evening, the visitors caved in without much resistance as they lost eight wickets for 71 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin (3/52) and debutant Jayant Yadav (3/30) being the chief destroyers.
Having showed some tenacity on day 4 to bat out 59.2 overs with 87/2, England struggled on the final morning and lost five wickets in 33.4 overs in the first session. India wrapped up the match immediately in the second session with Ashwin and Jayant taking the remaining three wickets.
While skipper Virat Kohli’s aggregate of 248 runs (167 and 81) laid the foundation for victory, the contribution of Ashwin (52 runs and match figures of 8/119) was significant.
The off-spinner has 231 wickets from 41 Tests apart from 1670 runs at an average of over 34.
Ravichandran Ashwin became the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2016, going past Rangana Herath’s tally of 54 wickets in eight Tests.
Ashwin also became the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2016 with 55 wickets surpassing Sri Lankan Rangana Herath, who has taken 54 wickets in eight Tests.
Jayant also had a memorable debut, scoring a total of 62 runs and picking up four wickets, including three in the second innings. He bowled an absolute beauty to Ben Stokes to dismiss him for 6. The ball drifted in on the middle and leg stump line but it gripped the surface and spun away to knock off stump.
He trapped Stuart Broad LBW for 5 and then followed it up by dismissing James Anderson for a golden duck. This was the first ‘King Pair’ by an England batsman in 110 years.
In the first session, Mohammed Shami (2/30) produced a magnificent spell with the new ball. He got the ball to reverse at pace and he accounted for the dangerous Joe Root for 25 as he trapped him LBW. Shami proceeded to get Adil Rashid for 4 as he got a delivery to lift up awkwardly from the deck.
At the other end, Ravindra Jadeja was drying up the runs and he got the wicket of Moeen Ali. He ended up with metronomic figures of 34-14-35-2.
When the final wicket fell, the celebrations were muted as Kohli just picked up a souvenir stump and shook hands with rival players.
