There are two schools of thought – one that a test match is supposed to last for five days and anything less is poor form. The other view is that it was a superb action-packed match where the bowlers dominated for a change and India won; so what if it was all over in under two days. So here’s what happened – decide for yourself which school of thought you belong to:
England made 112 and in reply, India made 145 in the first innings. After this, the England batsmen were bundled out in just 81 runs. So counting the first-innings lead, India just needed 49 to win which was accomplished without losing a wicket.
All this was in less than two full playing days. So while the ticket money was refunded for the other days, some were still disappointed.
But not enough cricket according to some.
The spinners reigned supreme and day two saw the fall of a total of 17 wickets after day one when 13 wickets tumbled.
At Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium, Axar Patel shone before his home crowd.
Patel took 6 wickets in the first innings and then 5 in the second innings.
In an amazing beginning to the second innings, Axar Patel took a wicket off the first ball of the innings. On the second ball, the umpire raised his finger (a decision revoked by the second umpire) and then took another wicket on the third ball! This almost-hat trick is some sort of world record.
After a superlative all-round performance in the last test, R Ashwin picked up 7 wickets in the innings and reached a personal milestone of 400 test wickets.
This is the fastest any Indian bowler has reached 400 wickets in tests.
They seemed to have no role to play in this match.
The spinners were getting great results so obviously, there were questions about the wicket.
While many questioned the pitch, it must be remembered that all teams prepare wickets to favour their own bowlers. This is what the home advantage is all about.
So what if it was a dry pitch? The green tops that they nurture in other countries are meant to assist their seamers, after all. And Joe Root seemed to be having a party just the same as the Indian spinners.
Joe Root seemed to be having a party just the same as the Indian spinners when he 5 wickets and conceded just 8 runs.
This was far from the only match that was wrapped up in two days. Almost all the others were not in India.
The fact is that the batsmen mostly got out to rank bad shots. Blaming the pitch is neither here nor there.
This tweet of Wasim Jaffer says it like it is.
The former England player had this take on the third India England test in Ahmedabad and he puts it even more bluntly.
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