Urvi Shah (Author, Beyond the Matches)
Quick guide:
D/N Pink ball Test
The Pink ball test was highly anticipated as it was a D/N test match in India and it was happening at the World’s Largest Stadium. The Narendra Modi Stadium previously known as the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad is now World’s largest stadium with the capacity of 1,32,000 spectators after the renovation. The build up was so much that the fans could not wait for it to be 2:30 pm of 24th February, 2021. The test was looked forward to as India was playing another pink ball test at home and after the 36 all out horror at Adelaide, it was time to test themselves again.
With it being a D/N test, it had its own beauty. The sun on top at the start, moving to the twilight time and then to the night time, playing under the lights and having the crowd present as they walk in the stadium from the dressing room! Felt like a festival of happiness is in town!!
Why was it a bizarre game?
A test match, traditionally a 5-day game, ended in 2 days! It all happened so fast that it was safe to say it was a bizarre game to witness in cricket. With total of 30 wickets falling within 2 days, none of the teams scoring more than 150 in an innings, and bowling just 842 balls for a result! According to me it was bizarre as it went off so quickly (not an ideal representation of a test match), no proper batting display as an unit but individual performances from both teams, and batsmen not putting up to the challenges by the bowlers. It was a test of the batsmen and a bowler’s game from start to end.
England won the toss and chose to bat first. It was a good pitch to bat on as England started off at 70-2 with early wickets of Sibley and Bairstow. Zak Crawley (53) played a beautiful knock and it was also the highest score (more than 20 runs) by any England batsmen in the innings. From 70-2 to 112-10, the match was entirely bowler’s dominance and a batting collapse. The phenomenal bowling by Axar Patel (6/38) who was playing his first pink ball test, and R. Ashwin (3/26) made it difficult for the visitors to put up a big total on the board! Earlier, England had faced such a horror against New Zealand when they were bowled out for 58 runs.
India in the their first innings, started off well but it was soon after that the hosts too experienced a collapse in the batting. Rohit Sharma (66) and Virat Kohli (27) were the top performances in the innings. The visitors bundled us out at 145 with Captain Root picking up his maiden 5-fer and registering his career best figures of 5/8. Jack Leach’s 4/54 was another spell which was equally brilliant!
Also, the notable feature of both the sides was that the spinners dominated the pink ball test!!
Pink Ball test was dominated by the Indian spinners. As much as the pitch offered them the assistance, we cannot overlook the disciplined lines and consistent bowling attack from the spin duo R. Ashwin-Axar Patel. They literally made it difficult for any other bowler in the unit to get a cut and bowl some overs in the second innings. It was only towards the end when England were 9 down, that Washington Sundar got an over to bowl of which, he bowled only 4 deliveries and picked up 1 wicket. Axar Patel’s Fifer and the 4-wicket haul by R. Ashwin got the visitors bowled out for 81, their lowest total against India in the tests.
India won the match by 10 wickets after chasing 49 runs and took the series 2-1. With this, England lost their spot in the WTC and with one more game to go, India needs to either win it or take it to a draw in order to reach the finals against New Zealand.
After the match got over, “Pitch” was the topic of discussion. Its agreeable that the pitch was a difficult one but was not that difficult as both teams were in a stable position at one point. Lack of concentration and application of techniques from the batsmen of both unit costed them the game. The way bowlers turned around the game, bowled in right areas, tested the batsmen’s skills was what changed the game. India picked up 20 wickets and England 10 wickets. Out of 30 wickets, 21 were of straight deliveries which meant that it wasn’t entirely shifted due to the pitch but batsmen lacking in the application area of the game.
To be honest, I don’t think the quality of batting was up to standards. It was a good wicket to bat in the first innings. It was bizarre that 21 of the 30 wickets fell to straight balls, Test cricket is about trusting your defence. Lack of application ensured it was a quick finish. ~Virat Kohli
Moments/records from the game (India vs England)
It was Ishant Sharma’s 100th Test match. It was also seen that he only bowled 5 overs, picking up the first and only wicket in the entire match and Bumrah bowled 6 overs. The spinners bowled a total of 68.2 overs and picked up 19 wickets.
It was the 8th shortest Test match (2 days) since 1946. The last was in 2018 (India vs Afghanistan) and the first was in 1946 (New Zealand vs Australia)
Joe root picked up his maiden fifer with career best figures of 5/8.
England recorded the lowest total against India with 81 runs in second innings. It isn’t the first instance, their previous lowest scores against India in tests were: 101 (1971, London), 102 (1981, Mumbai) and 102 (1986, Leeds).
7th shortest completed test match with 842 balls bowled. The last was in 1935 (WI vs ENG, Bridgetown). The shortest one was in 1932 (AUS vs SA, Melbourne).
Axar Patel picked up 11 wickets in the test match making him the 3rd bowler to do that in a D/N test match. The other two are Pat Cummins (10/62) and Devendra Bishoo (10/174). He also recorded his 3rd 5-wicket haul with 6 wickets in first innings and 5 wickets in second innings.
R. Ashwin reached the milestone of 400 Test wickets in the game after picking up 4 wickets in the 2nd innings. His current standing is 401* and he is the fourth Indian bowler along with A. Kumble, Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh to reach the milestone. He is also the 2nd fastest bowler to reach the milestone in 77 matches with M. Muralitharan (SL) being on top with 72 matches.
Also read: India vs England- Accepting the mistakes, a stepping stone to success
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