IND VS ENG - 2nd Test, England tour of India, 2021

There are some life rules, and you'd be wise to learn them quickly: This Indian team is quite the Newton's third law -- you humiliate them in Adelaide, they storm back at the MCG. You thrash them in Chennai, they get bolder, gamble with the pitch, prepare a serious turner, bring in the crowds, get them chanting, and thrash you bigger. England can also blame themselves and an overdose of their rotation policy. Surely their best players can take the field two games in a row. Anyway, it was real fun bringing you this, as I, Vineet Anantharaman, sign off on behalf of Sriram AS, Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our scorer, Mukesh Gowda. Until that revamped Motera that'll put the MCG to shame, and lights, and some more uncertainty, ta ta!!

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Here's Deepu Narayanan with his stat round-up:

First time in eight Tests in India, Joe Root has failed to score a half-century or more in an innings

Spinners taking five-fer on Test debut for India
5/64 - VV Kumar v Pak, Delhi 1960/61
6/103 - D Doshi v Aus, Chennai 1979/80
8/61 & 8/75 - N Hirwani v WI, Chennai 1987/88
5/71 - Amit Mishra v Aus, Mohali 2008/09
6/47 - R Ashwin v WI, Delhi 2011/12
5/60 - Axar Patel v Eng, Chennai 2020/21

Biggest Test wins for India (by runs)
337 vs SA Delhi 2015/16
321 vs NZ Indore 2016/17
320 vs Aus Mohali 2008/09
318 vs WI North Sound 2019
317 vs Eng Chennai 2020/21
304 vs SL Galle 2017- Five of the top six wins coming under Virat Kohli's captaincy

Previous biggest win for India against England was by 279 runs at Leeds in 1986

England lost by 317 runs - biggest defeat in Asia in terms of runs. Previous: by 246 runs vs Ind, Vizag 2016/17

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R Ashwin | MoM (2/2): That innings in Sydney really set the tone for me. I am enjoying my game and am really happy it happened in Chennai. Every load up gives a different result in terms of which way the pitch is behaving. I try and load up differently, use the breeze, use different angles to release the ball, speed of the run-up. This is working because I have created this awareness for myself. I have been playing it for the last 25 years. I really had to express myself. [In Tamil] As an eight year old I have come here on these very stands to watch cricket. I have played four Test matches here and easily this is the most special. I get a hero's feeling here playing cricket here. In Covid times this knowledgeable crowd came out in big numbers. They were 1-0 without the crowd, and we made it 1-1 with them. Hopefully we can take it forward.

R Ashwin | MoM (1/2): This wicket was very different to the one we played on in the first game. This was a red soil wicket, the first one was a clay wicket. As much as people were predicting things from the outside, I thought the balls that was doing much wasn't getting wickets. It was the mind of the batsmen that got us wickets. I have been playing for years over here now and it takes pace and guile to do it. Keeping intent was very important. It is very important to put the pressure on the bowlers becuase if you allow them to dictate terms, it is going to get easier. I just wanted to take it upon myself, and after I connected the first ball, I knew I got a hang of this wicket. I am someone who tries hard, and when things don't go my way, I try harder. Vikram Rathore has been very supportive. My batting was more about hands, to think tactically instead of technically. Ajinkya played a crucial role in telling me that I was overthinking it.

Virat Kohli | Winning skipper (2/2): Rishabh Pant has really worked hard in Australia, when he moves with the gloves you can see the difference in his reactions. He has shed a lot of weight and has worked hard on himself. It is showing, the way he kept with so much turn and bounce, credit to him. We want him to keep improving as a keeper because we know the valiue he brings to the team. It is a very, very special moment for Axar. He would've played the first game as well if he didn't have that niggle. He was keen to step on, and if you get that kind of pitch, he was all smiles and couldn't wait to get the ball in his hands. Hope he builds on from here, he has an important couple of games ahead. I take a lot of pride in improving myself and correcting my mistakes quickly. If I make an error, I make sure I iron it out in the next innings. Ashwin batted outstandingly well and that partnership between us was very crucial. I knew I coud trust my defence and easily bat four sessions on this pitch. Ahmedabad is going to be challenging. This England side has quality players and we need to be on our 'A' game throughout.

Virat Kohli | Winning skipper (1/2): It was a bit strange in the first game to be playing at home with empty stands. We were pretty flat on the first two days over there to be pretty honest, myself included, didn't pick up energy on the field. But from the second innings onwards in the first game, we picked up and were on the money in terms of our body language. The crowds make a big difference, this game was an example of the grit and determination this side shows and the crowd is a big part of that. Chennai crowd are very intelligent, they understand their cricket really well. In a 15-20 minute period where the bowler needs the support of the crowd, it is my responsibility to involve everyone and bring in the crowd. If I am running in to bowl in this heat, I need people to motivate me. It is a perfect game for us. The conditions were challenging for both sides, but we showed more application with the bat. We didn't panic out there looking at the turn and bounce, we showed grit, got into the game and scored 600 runs in the game. We know our bowlers would do the job for us if we put up these runs. The toss wouldn't have mattered much in this game to be honest, because if you looked at our second innings, we got 300 as well. It wasn't unfair if the toss went either way. Both teams should be in the game from the first session onwards, whether it is on spinning to seaming tracks, and that exactly was the case in this game.

Joe Root | Losing skipper: Credit to India, they outplayed us in all three departments. It has been an education for us, you could come up with conditions like these and we have to learn from this and find a way to score runs. We need to learn to build pressure and bowl six balls at one batsman. On day one we could have been a bit tighter, squeeze the game a bit more and make it harder for them to score. From day two it was a very difficult wicket to bat on. But we have got to be smarter about how we're building an innings. We are 1-1 and we are excited about the next two games given the way we played in the first game. We could've played that extra spinner, it is always easy to look at balancing a side at the end of the game. It will be different again when we turn up for the third game which will be a day-nighter, and very exciting last two games. Moeen got better with the ball as the game went on, and we know how destructive he can be with the bat. Ben Foakes batted really well in the first innings and his keeping has always been excellent. There are definitely things we can take from this week and it is just important that we stay level as a team. We performed last week and we have got to learn quickly. There are a lot of players who haven't played much cricket in this region and we have to learn quickly, which is something we have done well over the last few years. Ahmedabad will be very different, we have played only two pink ball games. It looks like a fantastic venue, really looking forward to that.

Kuldeep Yadav - It was important to stay along with the team when it's playing well. My job was to keep control, contain runs from one end and chip in as one of the three spinners on this track. We have been planning for this series for a long time, right from the Australia series. There was some pressure (on himself), having not played a lot of Tests in the last two years. Was discussing a lot with Ashwin regarding bowling in right areas and putting the pressure on the batsmen. We weren't worried (on losing the first Test), we have been in such situations before, in my first series (in 2017), we had lost the first Test against Australia in Pune. We're relaxed, we knew we had the team to come back and perform. Everyone was just focused on doing well in this Test.

Axar Patel: It was a good experience, to get a five-wicket haul on debut is special. As Kuldeep said, there was much happening on the pitch. It was about varying your speed and I just kept doing it. Forced the batsman to make mistakes. On the first day itself, it was turning. So, we bowled tight lines and got the rewards.

12:37 Local Time | 1-1: With a comprehensive 317-run thrashing, England's sub-continental winning run comes to an end. It was only a matter of time, and today was a mere formality. In fact the entire Test has been a formality after Rohit's assault on the first day. Or maybe the formality started as soon as India won the toss and chose to bat. But still, that cannot take anything away from the fact that India were extremely clinical here, showing their superiority in all departments. They're used to this though, undoing Adelaide in Melbourne, and now undoing Chennai in Chennai. There isn't much to write about what happened today, England were expected to fold out quickly, and they didn't disappoint. There surely isn't much you can do on a pitch spitting balls all around, and even lesser when you're up against the quality of Ashwin and the new Jadeja. Moeen Ali did have his share of fun though, dancing down the pitch, tonking some into the stands. Sometimes things that aren't good enough for a 2-0, are good enough for a big fat IPL contract. Hang around, the interviews are here ..

Kuldeep Yadav to Moeen Ali, out Stumped!! The fun's over. The fastest Test fifty will remain Misbah's -- thanks to one aimless dance down the pitch too many. Yadav has his revenge, slowing it up in the air, pulling his length back and getting to turn away sharply to make sure Moeen cannot reach out. And Pant doesn't mess up. Moeen Ali st Pant b Kuldeep Yadav 43(18) [4s-3 6s-5]

Kuldeep Yadav to Moeen Ali, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

Kuldeep Yadav to Moeen Ali, FOUR, way too full, and Moeen's tryst with smashing Kuldeep is quite an old one. More entertainment, with this charging drill through extra cover

Ashwin to Broad, no run, beats the defence and lobs up off the thighs to silly point. A very polite appeal

Ashwin to Broad, no run, flat, angling into the pads. Broad presses in front wanting to flick, but can't connect with the ball finding his pads

Ashwin to Moeen Ali, 1 run, another slog-sweep, along the ground this time though, deep mid-wicket

Ashwin to Moeen Ali, SIX, slogged into the beach. Ashwin feeds the slot, and the ball's doing nothing crazy either for Moeen to middle this one-kneed swipe over cow corner

Ashwin to Moeen Ali, FOUR, more Delhi Capital tonking. There's a message hidden guys. Moeen advances, isn't close enough to the pitch of it this time, but still manages enough power behind this loft over mid-off, and there's nothing a chasing Siraj can do