Team India has taken a pole position in the ongoing Test against England at the Chepauk after the Ravichandran Ashwin-led bowling attack shot the visitors out for 134 to take a 195-run-lead after the culmination of the first innings. And, at stumps, the Men in Blue had extended the lead to 249 runs.
Starting the day at 6/300, India were dealt with a dual body-blow in the very first over as Moeen Ali got rid of both Axar Patel and Ishant Sharma.
While Axar Patel was stumped brilliantly by Ben Foakes, Ishant Sharma fell in a rather tame manner after he ended up top-edging a premeditated sweep shot.
With not much batting to follow, Rishabh Pant decided to get as many runs as possible by playing his shots. He smashed Moeen Ali for Joe Root for a couple of fours and sixes to bring up his 4th half-century in his last six Test innings.
However, his innings was cut short as Olly Stone knocked over both Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj in his very first over of the day to fold India for 329.
With conditions tailor-made for spinners, it was always going to be tough for England batsmen and the same was testified when they lost four top-order wickets including the prized scalp of their skipper Joe Root in the 18 overs that were bowled before Lunch.
The visitors got off to the worst possible start as Ishant Sharma trapped Rory Burns LBW on the 3rd ball of the innings. Post that, it was the trial by spin of the highest order as Ashwin and Axar created a web around the visitors
Dom Sibley fell to Ashwin after he edged an attempted to sweep to Virat Kohli at leg-slip, as did skipper Joe Root, who top-edged the sweep to short fine-leg to give Axar his maiden Test wicket.
Ashwin then proceeded to end Dan Lawrence’s painful stay at the crease on what turned out to be the final ball of the morning session. The champion off-spinner played mind games against Lawrence as he made him wait and wait and wait for the final delivery of the session and then got one to spit off the surface, leading to the youngster giving a simple catch to Shubman Gill at short leg.
Ashwin continued to weave his magic after the break as he bamboozled Ben Stones with an overpitched delivery to Stokes in the 24th over of the England innings. On first thought, one would have imagined that Stokes missed out on a potential drive but this is what Ravichandran Ashwin does with his drift.
Stokes proceeded to play all around it and eventually saw his stumps knocked over, leaving England in dire-straits at 5/52. Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes looked like getting England out of a hole during their 35-run-stand before a one-handed stunner by Rishabh Pant off the bowling of Mohammed Siraj brought about the downfall of the former.
Then at the stroke of the Tea break, Axar Patel and Ashwin dismissed Moeen Ali (brilliantly caught by Rahane at 1st slip) and Olly Stone- who chipped one straight to Rohit Sharma at midwicket- to reduce England to 8/106.
Rishabh Pant claimed yet another one-handed stunner after the Tea break to dismiss Jack Leach while Ravichandran Ashwin knocked over Stuart Broad to claim his 29th five-wicket haul and finish off England’s first innings at 134.
India got off to a brisk start in its second innings with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill accumulating 42 runs in just 11.2 overs before Jack Leach got England the first scalp when he trapped Gill right in front of the wicket. Rohit Sharma survived a couple of chances at the fag end of the day- once when Ben Foakes missed a stumping off Moeen Ali and secondly when the third umpire did not take into consideration that Rohit had not offered a shot after he was struck on his pads.
Nevertheless, Rohit and Pujara ensured that India did not lose any more wickets, finishing the day at 1/54 and with an overall lead of 249.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
I have enjoyed these two catches from Rishabh Pant as much as I have enjoyed his batting….
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 14, 2021
Rohit Sharma is a ruthless attacking batsmen in home conditions. While outside of India his attacking strokes average 41.06, in India they average 127.87. #INDvENG
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) February 14, 2021
India – test match – R Ashwin – 5 wkts #synonymous
Superb catching by India too ??
— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 14, 2021
Ashwin. BEST INDIAN TEST CRICKETER OF THIS GENERATION. THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE TWEET!!!
— Yash ?? (@im_yash2307) February 14, 2021
#RishabhPant the batsman top notch and now the wicket keeper has arrived. The debate can rest! #INDvENG ??
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) February 14, 2021
Caught a fleeting view of an interesting test match in Chennai. ? ?? ??????? pic.twitter.com/3fqWCgywhk
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2021
Such a brave wicket to prepare for a Test match IN India when India are down in the series.
If India had lost the toss, they’d have gone down 2-0.
Very very brave!
Well tossed, @imVkohli ?
— Kevin Pietersen? (@KP24) February 14, 2021
23rd five-wicket haul for R Ashwin in 45 home Tests – goes past James Anderson's 22 in 89 home Tests.
Only Muralitharan (45), Herath (26) and Kumble (25) have taken more five-fers at home.A five-fer every second Test in India for Ashwin!!! ? #INDvENG
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) February 14, 2021
england trail rohit sharma by 27 in the first innings #INDvENG
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) February 14, 2021
#Ashwin is in great company when he entered a 'special' 200 club! Congratulations @ashwinravi99 for getting most left handers in Test. And, another 5 wicket haul at home. But this one in Chennai is always more special, I guess! #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/LtzLHQnF76
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) February 14, 2021
Extra ordinary effort @RishabhPant17 #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/I86Zs4TYpL
— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) February 14, 2021
The toss was more important to win in the 1st test than this one, as it did nothing the 1st 2 days. Then exploded. This one has been a turner from ball one. Eng should’ve bowled India out for 220. No different between spinning or seaming & Rohit showed how to play on this surface https://t.co/xg1gPDetRs
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) February 14, 2021
Disagree about the toss. Had England batted first I doubt they'd have made 250 – this pitch designed to take toss out of it by turning from day one. Basically India back their spinners to outbowl ours… https://t.co/cZBCccxFHL
— Derek Pringle (@derekpringle) February 14, 2021
Will Siraj even bowl this innings?
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) February 14, 2021
Most Dismissals for Ben Stokes against a single bowler in International Cricket
13 – Ravichandran Ashwin
7 – Kagiso Rabada
6 – Nathan Lyon
5 – Eight OthersAshwin doesn't dismiss Stokes, he bullies him
— GK (@NipBackers) February 14, 2021
ASHWIN. What. A. Gorgeous. Ball. Frame it and hang it in a gallery, please. #INDvENG
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) February 14, 2021
Batsmen Ashwin has dismissed most in Tests:
David Warner 10
BEN STOKES 9
Alastair Cook 9
Ed Cowan 7— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) February 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/LongyWTID/status/1360845394020888576?s=19
The last wicket of Dan Lawrence was beautifully set-up by R Ashwin. It was something akin to the dismissal of Basit Ali by Shane Warne (& Ian Healy) in the Sydney Test in Dec 1995 off the very last ball of play on the 3rd day!#IndvEng#IndvsEng
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) February 14, 2021
Pure class from @ashwinravi99 Gets dan Lawrence on the last ball before lunch. ?
— Ashwin Murugan (@AshwinMurugan8) February 14, 2021
That mind game from @ashwinravi99 ?? #INDvENG
— Thusi (@thusi_c) February 14, 2021
I guess the best that can be said from an England perspective is that, at the start of the series, they’d have chewed your arm off to be offered 1-1 going into the pink-ball Test at Ahmedabad.
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) February 14, 2021
It’s entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time but let’s be honest this Pitch is a shocker .. Not making any excuses as India have been better but this isn’t a Test Match 5 day prepared Pitch … #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 14, 2021
Stokes heading back to the changing room for lunch? #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/NSqbvViiqR
— England's Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) February 14, 2021
England took 5 days to win the first test, I get a feeling India is going to get this done in 3 days in this test #INDvENG
— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 14, 2021
That's the first time since 2017 that Joe Root has been dismissed sweeping a SLA bowler. Since that last dismissal, he'd scored 216 runs with the stroke against SLA. #INDvENG
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) February 14, 2021
Ha ha. First 3 deliveries of Axar – speeds of 97,94,89. Just what this pitch wants. #ENGvIND
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 14, 2021
Both teams losing first wicket in 1st innings without a run on the board (in India):
Ind vs Pak Jaipur 1986/87
Ind vs WI Delhi 1987/88
Ind vs Eng Chennai 2020/21 *#INDvENG— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) February 14, 2021
Highest totals not including an extra
329 Ind vs Eng Chennai 2020/21 *
328 Pak vs Ind Lahore 1954/55
252 SA vs Eng Durban 1930/31
247 SA vs Eng Nottingham 1960#INDvENG— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) February 14, 2021
Most sixes in Test cricket since Rishabh Pant's debut:
??????? Ben Stokes ➜ 37 in 26 games
?? RISHABH PANT ➜ 31 n 18 games
?? Rohit Sharma ➜ 28 in 11 games
?? Mayank Agarwal ➜ 23 in 14 games
?? Colin de Grandhomme ➜ 21 in 14 games#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/7vgU5txfMb— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) February 14, 2021