Ravichandran Ashwin and Jayant Yadav shared six wickets between them to guide India to a 246-run win over England on the fifth and final day of the second Test at Visakhapatnam, thereby securing a 1-0 lead in the five-match series on Monday. Chasing 405, England crumbled to 158 all out just four overs into the second session in a dominant performance by the home spinners, led by Ashwin who finished with match figures of 8/117 with debutant Jayant Yadav picking up 3/30 in second innings.
England, who lost their first two wickets in 60 overs, capitulated under sustained pressure on the final day, with Indian bowlers picking the remaining eight wickets within 37 overs. A sorry collapse followed a defiant opening stand from Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed who blunted the Indian attack, sowing seeds of a spirited fight in their chase of 405. Monday morning extinguished those faint hopes with the hosts landing quick blows, picking five wickets within the first session and then completing the formality in just fours overs into the second with Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin wiping the tail to extend India's unbeaten run to 16 Tests at home.
England's best hope for survival rested on the shoulders of Joe Root who had Ben Duckett, a walking wicket, for company. And soon, Duckett added another chapter to his wretched tour of the subcontinent, caught by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha off Ashwin for a 16-ball duck. Unlike Day 4, when India had to wait for over 50 overs for their first scalp, they had an early success, taking 33 deliveries to make the first strike.
Jadeja, as usual, was quickly going through his overs, not allowing the batsmen to settle in with a probing line. Moeen Ali was the new man in and Jadeja got one to pitch on the rough from where the ball bounced, took the shoulder of his bat and flew to man of the match Virat Kohli who completed the catch standing at backward short leg.
Root was beaten on several occasions and might just have thought it's going to be his day when he was reprieved by Kohli on 9 when he failed to hold on to a sharp catch at backward short leg and then successfully reversed a caught behind decision. In between, he struck three boundaries, all against Ashwin. Ben Stokes, who scored a fighting 70 in the first innings, was done in by an excellent delivery from Jayant Yadav as he got one to turn sharply that beat the left-hander and crashed on the off-stump. England had lost half their side and Mohammed Shami hastened their collapse with the big wicket of Root, who unsuccessfully reviewed an lbw decision, departing for 25. Shami then removed Adil Rashid (4) to take India closer to victory.
Jonny Bairstow, who partnered Stokes in the first innings for a defiant stand, remained positive, sweeping and punching to collect seven fours either side of the lunch break and cut a sorry figure watching the inevitable remaining unbeaten on 34.
Brief Scores: England 158 (Cook 54; Jayant 3/30 Ashwin 3/52) and 255 lost to India 204 and 455 by 246 runs
India equal second longest unbeaten home streak
Virat Kohli's side has drawn level with the second longest streak by any Indian cricket team at home, winning the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam to make it 16 consecutive matches without defeat in India. The record is 20, and with eight Tests remaining in what is Indian cricket's busiest home season ever, it is a very real possibility that Kohli's India break it. Since Alastair Cook's visiting England beat MS Dhoni's team at Eden Gardens in December 2012 to take an unassailable 2-1 series lead, India have played 16 Tests at home without defeat, winning 13 and drawing three.
The wins have come over Australia (4-0 in 2013), West Indies (2-0 in 2013), South Africa (3-0) in 2015 and New Zealand (3-0) and now England (by 246 runs in Visakhapatnam) this year. Dhoni was captain when India whitewashed Australia and West Indies, and Kohli in the last two series wins as well as now against England. The draws were against England in the fourth and final Test in Nagpur in December 2012, South Africa in Bangalore last November, when rain washed out four days of the second Test, and with England in Rajkot last week.
Three Tests with England remain, followed by Bangladesh's first visit for a one-off Test match and then four against Australia, both in early 2017. The longest streaks at home by an Indian cricket team are 20 consecutive Tests between 1977-1980 and 16 between 1960-1964. In that first period, from January 28, 1977 to February 3, 1980, teams led by Bishan Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath stitched together an unbeaten run of 20 Test matches against England (two), West Indies (six), Australia (six) and Pakistan (six). In the second, from January 23, 1960 up to February 20, 1964, India's run spanned 16 Tests versus Australia (one), Pakistan (five) and England (ten).
