Motera Pink-Ball Test All Over In Less Than 2 Days As India Crush England By 10 Wickets To Go 2-1 Up!

The pink ball seems to be finding it very hard to have a footing in India despite the enthusiasm and suspense surrounding it! The first ever day-night Test match using this ball was held in November 2019 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata between India and Bangladesh, and the much-hyped match was all over in two days and 47 minutes with India crushing the visitors and thousands of spectators wanting more, at least 3 days of cricket. And now, the second pink-ball test to happen at the magnificent new Motera stadium, Ahmedabad is over in even less than 2 days, India crushing England by 10 wickets with the India spinners Axar Patel, after his fiver in his debut test in Chennai, taking 11 wickets (two five-wicket hauls) and Ravichandran Ashwin accounting for total 7 wickets thus becoming the second fastest bowler of the world to take 400 Test wickets. Such short-lived pink-ball tests should also raise some concern for the BCCI: with the kind of crowds coming in to watch a cricket test just think of the revenue loss for the days of the game lost!

 

17 wickets fell today, the second day that is 25^thFebruary 2021, compared to 13 on the first day yesterday. Replying to England’s 112 India started the day at 99/3 and just after levelling the score there was a collapse, losing 7 wickets for a final total of 145, yielding a tiny lead of 33 runs. Captain Joe Root made a spectacular display of spin bowling by taking a fiver for only 8 runs, and Jack Leach settled for 4 wickets.  There was much expectation from the famed Indian batting depth to build a match-winning lead on the visitors’ paltry total, but failed in heaps. Therefore, at that point the match was evenly poised.    

 

England’s second innings turned out to be a bigger disaster with Axar striking with his very first ball and then devouring Bairstow in the same over. England could never recover from those vital blows finally folding up for one of their lowest totals of 81, giving India just 49 runs to get for a win. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill did that easily enough within one hour of the third session thus ensuring a thumping win by 10 wickets. England is now out of contention for the World Test Championship Final and India only has to make sure of not losing the fourth and last Test match at the same venue to secure its berth.

 

The hero of the Sydney-save, the hero of the second Test in Chennai Ravichandran Ashwin went on with his outstanding spin bowling completing his 400 wickets in England’s second innings. He has achieved this feat of becoming only the second fastest bowler in world test cricket in his 77^thTest, beating Richard Hadley of New Zealand and Dale Steyn of South Africa both of whom took 80 Tests each to complete the capture of 400 wickets. Sri Lankan legend Muralitharan continues to enjoy the first position by capturing 400 wickets in 72 Tests.

 

Now questions are about how the pitch at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium is going to behave in the fourth and last test match between the two countries that starts from the 4^th of March 2021. The pitch has been having uneven bounce from the very first day helping the ball turn viciously and it has also been showing cracks or even breaking up at places. Is it the kind of pitch that befits the supposedly the largest and the most modern cricket stadium of the world or is it consciously tailormade for the Indian spinners? Is it going to be more unplayable? How are the curators and groundsmen going to make it ready for the fourth test?  Cricket experts justify it by saying that such a challenging pitch basically tests the application, techniques and the mindset of the players; however, a five-day test match not going beyond two days remains a concern. The first pink-test focused on grass-topped pitches which was a paradigm shift to develop the country’s promising fast bowlers; but the second pink-ball test seems to have put it back to square one. Only time would provide the answers.

Back To Roaring Cricket, India Vs England Pink-Ball Third Test Begins At The New Motera Stadium!

Finally, we are back to watching cricket of the roaring kind, meaning fans in thousands are there once more to cheer on their home team and favorite players. Well, it’s still half-capacity in view of the new normal times! But at the new world-class Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad half-capacity means a maximum of 55 thousand spectators which has to be considered mammoth under any circumstances. Allowing that big a crowd just when there has been an alert about a possible second wave of COVID-19 in the country is, however, another matter. Before we start describing the breath-taking stadium let us first narrate the story of the first day of the third Test between India and England.

 

The visitors seemed to have won a crucial toss, because the hosts have decided to play three spinners, taking in Washington Sundar again in place of Kuldeep Yadav and retaining Axar Patel with R Ashwin as the winning combination in the second Chennai Test. Selecting three spinners was against expectations. Faced with a brand-new pitch on a just-inaugurated stadium nobody really knew how the pitch would behave, and considering the ‘twilight swing’ possibility it was thought that three seamers would be preferred. Perhaps India took the decision looking at the dryness of the pitch that is totally without grass. England, on the other hand, has included four seamers bringing in now-fit Jofra Archer and James Anderson, and just one spinner in Jack Leach, Moeen Ali returning home. The other important change in the team is the coming back of veteran wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow.

 

This Test is crucial for both teams: India would qualify for the World Test Championship Final if they win this and win the series by winning or drawing the fourth test while England must win this and the next match also to qualify. The brand-new pitch seemed to be helping both seam and spin as Axar Patel, coming in to bowl early, extracted turn in the very first over taking the wicket of Bairstow. Eventually as the day progressed India’s focus on spin paid off with Axar registering his second consecutive fiver (an amazing 6/38) and Ashwin taking up three more wickets in his quest to complete 400 test wickets, in the process becoming the second fastest spinner to capture 400 scalps after Muralitharan who achieved this feat in just 72 tests. The duo combined again to skittle England all out for 112 in less than 50 overs, 48.4 overs to be exact with the lone half century from Crawley. 

At stumps on the first day India’s score was 99/3, trailing by just 13  runs, Rohit Sharma getting an unbeaten half century while India losing Shubman Gill for 11 and the sheet anchor Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck. At this stage India is set to take a good lead which may prove crucial. With Leach already getting 2 wickets England must ruing the lack of another spinner. However, India would have much liked to avoid losing skipper Virat Kohli in the last over of the day. 

 

Earlier, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, officially inaugurated the stadium, named Narendra Modi cricket stadium, with a bhoomi pujan (ritualistic worship of the site-God). He was accompanied by the union Home Minister, Amit Shah. The dignitaries stayed on for the match and were introduced to players of both the teams just before the start of the match. Indian seamer Ishant Sharma who is playing his 100^th test has been presented with mementos by the President. These had been lively moments with around fifty-thousand spectators watching and cheering from the eye-catchingly attractive and sprawling stands.  

 

Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera, a locality of the city of Ahmedabad, had been a known as the Motera ground for cricket, and matches of all formats had been played here since 1983 including important matches of the World Cups held in India. In 2015 it was decided to dismantle the stadium completely and construct a world-class cricket stadium as part of a sports complex. While the sports complex is to be called Sardar Patel Sports Enclave that includes the disciplines of hockey, basketball and others, the magnificent cricket ground has been named Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, to acknowledge the great contribution of the Prime Minister to develop sports and to his home state Gujarat.

 

With the start of the third test between India and England, the first match to be played in the new stadium, the Motera has officially become the largest cricket stadium of the world with an incredible capacity of 110 thousand spectators, beating Melbourne Cricket Ground that has 90 thousand capacity. This is also the first cricket stadium in the world to have four giant dressing rooms with gyms attached, and possibly the first one too to have LED lighting instead of the usual flood lights. It has all the modern facilities for the players of various disciplines including an Olympic-size swimming pool. There are also 76 corporate boxes that can house 25 people each. This stadium is set to have electrifying moments during the T20 World Cup, now scheduled to be held in India this October-November, with more than 110,000 people cheering, the pandemic permitting, of course.

The pitch has been behaving odd with uneven bounce, balls keeping low at times. It has also helped the spinners get turn from the word go. 13 wickets had fallen on the first day itself. The 'dew factor' is also coming into  play as the England bowlers were affected to some extent. Depending on how the game proceeds on the next two days, if at all the match does last three days, questions are bound to be raised on the pitch, also in view of the fact that one more test match is to be played here. 

India Vs England Test Cricket: Ashwin And Rohit Star In India’s Mammoth Win, WTC Series Levelled 1-1!

 

India have won the second World Test Championship (WTC) Series cricket Test against England by a mammoth margin of 317 runs just after lunch on the fourth day at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, and squared the series at 1-1. Chennai was the venue for the first test too that the visitors won by 227 runs. This victory has taken India back to the second position and England back to the fourth in the WTC points table with the hosts needing to win the series 2-1 or 3-1 for an almost secure place in the final to be played in Southampton instead of Lord’s due to the COVID situation in England in June, 2021.

 

The first thing that comes to the mind about this test is the sterling performance of bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin who has achieved the distinction of capturing five wickets and a century in the same match, for the third time as per records, and is now among the very few bowling all-rounders of the world of test cricket to have achieved this honor.  He bowled magnificently in England’s first innings achieving a fiver at 5-43 thus helping his team’s rout of England as the visitors were all out for a paltry 134 runs, conceding a match-defining lead of 195 runs. In India’s second innings Ashwin batted brilliantly in captain Virat Kohli’s company at a crucial juncture of the innings. With incredible support from the last man Mohammad Siraj, Ashwin completed a most well-deserved ton and ensured an almost unassailable target of 482 runs for the visitors. In all, Ashwin captured 8 scalps. And, his fans watched this in ecstasy as spectators were allowed in this match at half-capacity.

 

Opener Rohit Sharma did what Joe Root did in the first test, attacking the bowlers from the word go after Kohli won the toss this time and elected to bat. With the team’s scoring rate of over 4 at times, Rohit hit 18 fours and 2 sixes in his priceless innings of 161 runs. He stood firm in an attacking mood as India faltered again and again, first losing Shubman Gill for a duck and then the captain for another duck. Thanks to his innings India finally scored a total of 329 runs which did not seem to be enough in view of England’s first innings score of 578 in the first test. However, India’s spin trio of Ashwin, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav ensured that it was more than enough.

 

After failures in the first test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane gave company to a rampaging Rohit in a crucial partnership with his individual score of 67 runs. Continuing with his incredible run with the bat since Australia Rishabh Pant scored 58 quick runs to help India cross the 300-run mark. Cheteshwar Pujara, called the Rock after Rahul Dravid, could not achieve much in this match, scoring 21 and 7 respectively in both of the innings. Virat Kohli batted with class in the second innings building a partnership with Ashwin that took the match away from England. Virat scored 62 runs.

 

Left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel, in his Test debut, bowled brilliantly capturing a total of 7 wickets that included a spectacular fiver in England’s second innings which contributed toward England folding up for just 164 and conceding defeat by 317 runs. After a little indecision in the first test India seemed to have hit the right spinner-combination, and this trio is going to cause the visitors a persistent headache in the remaining two tests. Swing duo of Ishant Sharma and Siraj have also combined well to keep the visitors under a tight leash.

 

The decision to rest India’s number one strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised a lot of questions, particularly from cricket legend Gavaskar. However, in hindsight this decision proves to be an intuitive one: first, it was important to give Siraj, emerging as a strike bowler for India, a chance, and in view of the expected turn in the two-match old pitch and the selection of the spinner trio, it seemed to be a practical idea to rest Bumrah; second, the decision is even intuitive as Siraj eventually put up an eye-catching batting display allowing, crucially, Ashwin to complete his century.  

 

England played poorly in all departments of the game, particularly batting with no batsmen showing the resolve to stick on and achieve what Root did in the first test, except for the occasional hiccups that their bowlers were able to give India in both of the innings. They sorely missed the services of fast bowlers Jofra Archer and James Anderson: the former was dropped because of injury, but dropping Anderson was a mystery after his swashbuckling performance in the first test.  Dropping of successful spinner Dom Bess was another mystery.

 

In all, India played to their true potential this time showing the class of their batsmen and bowlers under pressure. I agree fully with Boria Majumdar, cricket expert, when he said to a private news channel that India is a champion team and should always try to play to their class and potential, instead of giving their fans the shocks in the beginning of almost every series, like that of 36 all out against Australia and the first test blues against England.

 

The insistent talk about the Chennai pitch turning from the second day has not been fully corroborated, because India scored more than double to that of England, 286 in their second innings to England’s 134 in the first innings. This is clearly a case of class display versus poor performance. In the first Test India did poorly in all departments of the game. The pitch has indeed been helpful to spinners from the first test, but, for that matter, both team had able spinners to shine.

 

From here on the challenge for the visitors is going to only mount as the hosts seem to have got back their winning spirit, realized the potential and achieved the right ‘champion’ combination. Next, the pink-ball day-n-night third Test match starts at the Motera, Ahmedabad from the 24^thof February, and the fourth and last Test from 3^rd March. The Motera pitch is a toss between a bowler-friendly and a slower one. Bumrah is sure to come back in view of the ‘twilight seam’ factor in the next match, and in that case one of the spinners could be rested. Besides, injured seamers Mohammad Shami and Navdeep Saini have reportedly recovered. In fact, the official squad for the two remaining Tests is yet to be declared, and the BCCI is also expected to announce the squad for the five-match T20 Series too that starts in Ahmedabad from 12^th March.

 

With avid Indian cricket fans allowed to join, in half stadium capacity though, the players from the second Test onward, Team India’s spirit is sure to soar to much higher altitudes.