Team India has pulled off a magnificent 10-wicket win over England inside two days in the third Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday. It was the first pink-ball Test played between the two teams. England was dismissed for 112 and 81 in both their innings setting India, who made 145 in the first innings, 49 runs to win, which the Indian openers, Rohit Sharma (25*) and Shubman Gill (15*) chased down comfortably.
For India, Axar, who had returned 6 for 38 in the first innings, managed to end the second innings with the spell of 5 for 32 in the second innings. Courtesy of Axar’s haul and Ravichandran Ashwin’s brilliant spell of 4 for 48 from the other end, England was dismissed for their lowest-ever total in India – 81. During the course of the innings, R Ashwin also got to 400 Test wickets and became the fastest Indian bowler to get to the milestone and second fastest around the world.
ALSO READ: R Ashwin Becomes The Second Fastest Bowler To Take 400 Test Wickets
Former cricketers, including India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, shared their views on the pitch after 17 wickets fell on the second day of the Test. He tweeted that he isn’t sure if such surfaces are good for Test cricket, while adding that had the likes of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh bowled on the pitches which we have seen in the ongoing Test series, they would’ve taken 1,000 and 800 wickets respectively.
In his tweet, Yuvraj wrote: “Finished in 2 days Not sure if that’s good for test cricket !If @anilkumble1074 and @harbhajan_singh bowled on these kind of wickets they would be sitting on a thousand and 800? However congratulations to India @akshar2026 what a spell! congratulations @ashwinravi99 @ImIshant.”
finished in 2 days Not sure if that’s good for test cricket !If @anilkumble1074 and @harbhajan_singh bowled on these kind of wickets they would be sitting on a thousand and 800 ?🤔However congratulations to 🇮🇳 @akshar2026 what a spell! congratulations @ashwinravi99 @ImIshant 💯
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) February 25, 2021
Kevin Pietersen, who has been tweeting about the ongoing series in Hindi, said that he has no intention of seeing of watching cricket on such pitches anymore.
Ek match ke liye aesa wicket theek hai jaha ballebaaz ki skill aur takaneek ka test hota hai . LEKIN main iss tara ka wicket aur nahi dekhna chahta aur mujhe lagta hai ki saare khiladi bhi nahi chahte . Bohut ache , india 🇮🇳 🙏
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) February 25, 2021
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan said the cricket was entertaining in Ahmedabad but termed the pitch used for the third Test as “awful”.
Entertaining .. YES .. but this is a awful pitch for Test cricket .. !!!! Complete lottery on day 2 !! #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 25, 2021
Mark Waugh, the former Australia batsman, was of the opinion that the Indian all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja been a part of these matches, the scores would’ve been even lower.
Scores would have been even lower in the last 2 tests if Jadeja had been playing. You know when Joe Root gets 5/8 the pitch is very questionable.
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) February 25, 2021
Now, the Indian team has taken an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match Test series, and hence, England is now out of contention from reaching the World Test Championship final with New Zealand. If India managed to win or draw the four-match Test then they will be reaching the final otherwise Australia will qualify.
ALSO READ: Netizens Applauds Joe Root For Taking His Maiden Test 5-fer
Here are some of the other reactions after the comfortable win of Team India:
Batsmen most times dismissed by Ashwin (Tests)
11 BEN STOKES
10 David Warner
9 Alastair Cook
7 Ed Cowan/ James Anderson#INDvENG— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) February 25, 2021
Jonny Bairstow’s last 7 Test innings vs India:
0
6
0
0
18
0
0#INDvsENG— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) February 25, 2021
Richie Benaud, greatest Aussie commentator of all time, once took 3 wickets for 0 runs vs India in 1959.#INDvENG
— The Cricket Statistician (@CricketSatire) February 25, 2021
98-2 to 125-8! In 13 overs. This game is galloping.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 25, 2021
2-1 to India – and too good, again, for England.
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) February 25, 2021
Most wins as Indian captain in Tests in India:
Virat Kohli – 22 (29 matches)
MS Dhoni – 21 (30 matches)— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 25, 2021
The Ahmedabad Test is completed in just 140.2 overs – the shortest ever Test match involving India in which a result is achieved.
The India-Bangladesh Test at Eden Gardens in 2019 had lasted for 161.2 overs.#INDvENG #INDvsENG #ENGvIND #ENGvsIND
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) February 25, 2021
As well as the Indian spinners have bowled, Rohit Sharma has made the decisive contributions in the last two Tests #INDvENG
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) February 25, 2021
England first innings, first Test 578 (190.1 overs)
Since then they've totalled 178, 134, 164, 112 and 81
Total in last five innings 669 runs for 50 wicket in 240 overs
— Simon Wilde (@swildecricket) February 25, 2021
Pitch this pitch that. It’s okay boss. Occasionally bowlers will have undue advantage. Batsmen have undue advantage in two other formats. Enjoy this extreme. It’s riveting.
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) February 25, 2021
Watching this test match like
😁
☺️
🙃
🥲
🤨
🧐
😳
😱
😰
🤯🤯#INDvENG— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) February 25, 2021
Test match hai ya 2D/2N Honeymoon package.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) February 25, 2021
What a terrific bowling on display!
The spinners are turning everything into gold!!
10 wickets for @akshar2026 while @ashwinravi99 completes 400 Test wickets.
Hope not many people have bought tickets for 4th & 5th day #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/nrAYyEKetx— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 25, 2021
193 is England's sixth lowest match aggregate (counting Tests in which they've been bowled out twice).
It's their second lowest since 1904 – they were out for 82 and 93 in Christchurch in 1983-84.
List of England's lowest match aggregates: https://t.co/PFIzOLxCoV https://t.co/7BilPgRxuL
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) February 25, 2021
2day test match ….! Wow 😳
— Amol Muzumdar (@amolmuzumdar11) February 25, 2021
