India strike late on day 4 to oust England’s skipper

With the win, India has taken a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series after the Rajkot Test finished with no result.

“I think we all saw the first day was the easiest to bat – the first two sessions in particular”.

The scorecard made grim reading for England and their loss was their second heaviest to India in terms of runs, although the 97.3 overs faced was the third longest they have batted for in a fourth innings in India, albeit for scant reward.

A sorry collapse in which they lost their 10 wickets for 83 runs after a 75-run opening stand – a defiant display put up by Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed as they blunted the Indian attack, sowing seeds of a spirited fight in their chase of a mammoth target.

England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow followed up his first innings half-century to finish unbeaten on 34 but no-one outside England’s top three batsman made double figures. From Visakhapatnam, the action will shift to Mohali at the PCA Stadium for the third Test starting Saturday while the fourth match commences on December 8.

Chasing a mammoth 405 for victory, England were precariously placed at 87 for two at stumps, with Joe Root batting on five as Cook’s stubborn resistance came to an end with the close of play.

The first Test was a bowlers show for both teams, but it was the Indian spin bowlers who bagged the win for India.

His dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane doubtless furrowed the brows of England’s batsmen amid the celebrations – because a short-of-a-length ball kicked alarmingly to take the edge for a routine slip catch.

Kohli said the performance of his pace bowlers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, who gave India crucial breakthroughs, and debutant off-spinner Jayant Yadav were the biggest positives for his side. “And if you make mistakes, 3-4 wickets can fall in one session, so we were able to get 200 runs lead because of that”.

Hameed fell victim of a ball that shot across the floor and was trapped LBW by the world’s number one bowler, adding to his five-wicket haul in the first innings.

However, Hameed got an nearly unplayable delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin and Alastair Cook was dismissed in the final over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja before stumps to make England’s hope of drawing a test a little fainter and their job on Day 5 a little more hard. The problem for England, though, is that the two replacement options are Gary Ballance, who has been bad in the last few matches, before being dropped, and Jos Buttler, who has played little to no first-class cricket and hasn’t really convinced in the Test match game. The first Test had ended in a pale draw. “We have shown a lot of skill apart from a disappointing hour on day two”, Broad said after the match.