The England supporters filed into the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium first thing believing the City of Destiny could live up to the nickname but by 12.50pm local time, as Ben Stokes mooched back to the pavilion muttering up his breath about a grave error of judgment, such thoughts had disappeared like the morning’s sea haze.
England were already struggling to stay afloat by this point, sitting 220 for six in their pursuit of what would be a record 399 to win after India had repeatedly punctured holes in their hull before lunch. And yet while Stokes remained out in the middle with a back catalogue of such feats behind him, so did an outside chance for his side.
But then it came, Ben Foakes clipping a single into the leg-side, only for his partner to be slow out of the blocks. It was a frictionless direct hit from Shreyas Iyer at mid-wicket – the kind of prowling intervention usually associated with the absent Ravindra Jadeja – and Stokes was an inch short of the line when a dive might have saved him.
As it was, the England captain had to watch from the pavilion in his bucket hat as India eventually winkled out the final three wickets to claim a 106-run victory and 1-1 scoreline after two Tests. The hosts were good value for it, too, with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double century in the first innings, and 104 from Shubman Gill in the second, representing two outliers in a match of middling scores. That youth stood up was a boon for a side missing Virat Kohli.
But there was no denying who delivered the telling hand, with Jasprit Bumrah’s six-wicket burst of reverse swing on day two likely to be spoken about for years to come, not least the feet-seeking yorker that sent a couple of Ollie Pope’s stumps tumbling. Three more followed on the final day, Bumrah fittingly inflicting the coup de grâce when Tom Hartley’s off pole was the last to be detonated. England, 292 all out in 69.2 overs, simply had no answer to the greatest fast bowler in India’s history.
A nine-day gap now follows before the third Test in Rajkot, with England set to fly back to Abu Dhabi where they will be joined by their families. There is unlikely to be a major inquest, however, the series scoreline one they would have taken at the start of the tour and this a Test match in which there was plenty of good work. Brendon McCullum, who had told his troops they would even attempt a chase of 600, is not the kind to change tack.
That England would resume their chase on 67 for one bristling with intent was never in doubt, such has been their (chiefly successful) method over the past two years. But while there was clarity for the majority – controlled aggression not misplaced on a surface that was still playing well – Joe Root’s innings stood as one of a potentially clouded mind.
Root has been the chase supremo under Stokes, anything but the wild 10-ball 16 he crashed to here. After a couple of reverse-swept fours and one middled six powered over extra cover, it was ended with an ugly charging swipe against the angle of Ravichandran Ashwin from around the wicket that skewed a simple catch to backward point.
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Understanding this may sit on the to-do list for Stokes and McCullum over the break. Root did have a busted right pinkie, which may in part explain it. But after scores of 29, two and five before this – Bumrah twice working him over among these – it has been a low-key start by a player of his quality. There is of course the extra burden of bowling in this series, something he has dutifully taken on but looked increasingly weary from also.
Zak Crawley, by contrast, seems unencumbered and while the question about his greed cropped up in England’s first innings, scores of 76 and 73 showed how far his game has come since the previous tour here. Resuming on 29, Crawley drilled some beautiful straight drives against Bumrah and seemed largely at ease against the spinners until Kuleep Yadav pinned him lbw playing around one. It looked to be missing leg with the naked eye – umpire Marais Erasmus thought so – but three reds on Hawkeye followed.
This was the first of two killer blows in the space of four balls before lunch, Jonny Bairstow the second when a punchy 26 was ended lbw to a ball angled in from Bumrah. England could have accommodated the loss of Rehan Ahmed first thing – an impish 23 from the nighthawk following six wickets in the match – and Pope ambitiously cutting Ashwin to slip on 23 to produce a sparkling reflex catch from Rohit Sharma. But to lurch from 194 for three to five down by the interval was too great a swing, not least with Bumrah in such form.