The nature of the pitch in the ongoing second Test of the four-match series between India and England has been a hot topic of discussion. The track has been assisting the spinners with turn from the very first day and that hasn’t gone down well with a large faction of the England fans, former players and pundits. It has been called a sandpit, a beach and worse.
Only 14 on this beach ? 😜 https://t.co/TqqPTgqgSu
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 13, 2021
Following England’s collapse for 134 in response to India’s first innings total of 329, a section of the English media even claimed that the hosts should be docked World Test Championship points for laying out such a ‘bad’ pitch for this match.
India should be docked WTC points for this pitch. It’s a sandpit. Makes batting a lottery . #INDvsENG
— simon hughes (@theanalyst) February 14, 2021
On the back of such claims, the onus was on the Indian batsmen to show that it was possible to spend time and score runs on this track with proper application and technique. Day 3, 2nd Test: England in face of probable defeat after Ashwin’s ton
India were in a comfortable position at stumps on Day 2 as they finished on a score of 53/1, thus extending their lead to 249 runs. That helped them in silencing the critics a bit, but the morning session of Day 3 didn’t turn out to be fruitful for them. India vs England 2nd Test, Day 4 live cricket streaming: When and where to watch
India lost five wickets for just 53 runs in the space of 17 overs and hence, the attention shifted towards the pitch again. India’s lead was already over 300 runs by then, but with more than two and a half days to go in the match, that wasn’t a target they would have been comfortable with. Skipper Virat Kohli watched wickets tumbling from one end, all he was searching for was a partner who can bide time at the crease with him.
That was when Ravichandran Ashwin walked out to bat at No. 8. He had already done his job in the match having registered a five-wicket haul to bowl England out the previous day. But India needed him to deliver with the bat now.
He was expected to play the supporting cast, the second fiddle, to Kohli. Considering how he approached his innings, he seemed to be the specialist batsman of the two.
The 32-year-old showed a positive intent right from the start. Not only did he look confident in the way he pressed forward on the front-foot to the spinners, he looked just as strong while playing on the back foot as well. It seemed he had the exact measure of how the pitch was playing and what the ball was going to do after hitting the surface.
But it hardly came as a surprise. It was not only his home ground but he has also bowled a total of 96.1 overs at this venue in these two matches combined – more than enough to get a hang of things.
With Kohli, Ashwin forged a partnership of 96 runs for the seventh wicket. The duo didn’t seem to be in any problem whatsoever while they occupied the crease. Kohli played at his own pace, ensuring he held his wicket at one end. Ashwin was the aggressor as he brought up his fifty in just 65 deliveries. It was a flawless partnership until Moeen Ali claimed Kohli. The dismissal wasn’t convincing too as he was given out lbw after DRS, on account of umpire’s call.
The lead stood at 397 runs at that point, probably fifty runs short of what India would have liked to defend. The remaining three Indian batsmen didn’t inspire much confidence, so it was up to Ashwin to get them to where they wanted.
The job wasn’t easy but Ashwin stood out with his batting. He added 84 with the next three batters and that included a 49-run stand for the last wicket with Mohammed Siraj.
He had already gotten India to where they wanted during the course of that partnership and the anticipation was now about him reaching the three-figure mark.
There were some tense moments for Ashwin as Siraj had to bat out a couple of full overs bowled by the English spinners. But he negotiated their threat successfully and thus allowed Ashwin to stay in with a chance of completing the century he deserved.
It was a cut off the fifth delivery of Jack Leach’s over, the 81st of India’s innings, that took Ashwin into the nineties. He tried to take a single of the very next delivery to retain the strike in the next over, but he couldn’t.
Siraj was entrusted with the responsibility once again to return the strike to Ashwin or play out the over, whichever possible. To everyone’s delight, he managed to take a single off the very first delivery of the next over bowled by Moeen Ali.
Ashwin was back on strike. He hit the next ball straight to mid-off. It was a dot ball, and the wait continued. But he went down on one knee and played the slog sweep on the very next delivery to launch the ball straight over the boundary for a six. That helped him in moving to 97.
The sweep was one shot that he had used to such good effect in this innings. After stumps, Ashwin talked about how much effort they had put towards practicing the sweep ahead of this match: “Even after the last Test, we spoke about how we are going to counter Leach and probably bring sweep to the game. Last time I was sweeping, I was 19 years old, I hit a bit of sweep shots well today.”
Coming back to that phase of play once again, Ashwin was just three runs away from his fifth Test century. Three balls were left in the over. Another couple of runs taken off Moeen’s next delivery took Ashwin to 99. He was just a run away now from what was going to be a stellar hundred.
The very next delivery, he decided to step out and go for the glory shot. He couldn’t middle it but the edge he got on it ensured that the ball flew behind for a boundary.
Ashwin had finally reached the three-figure mark. He roared out loud while being on his way towards the other end of the pitch and punched the air in excitement. Siraj seemed equally elated. The happiness and smile on his face for Ashwin’s achievement was probably the spectacle of the day.
A moment to cherish forever! @ashwinravi99 gets his Test💯 in Chennai and Md. Siraj erupts in joy. The dressing room stands up to applaud.🙌🏾 #TeamIndia #INDvENG @paytm pic.twitter.com/ykrBhsiTbl
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 15, 2021
Ashwin brought up his century in just 134 deliveries, which means he scored at a strike rate of 76.8 on a pitch that was termed as extremely ‘poor’ for batting. Most people called the track a beach, so it was fitting to see Ashwin throw a beach party for them.
He showed everyone that England’s failure as a batting unit in this match has nothing to do with the nature of the pitch. In fact, it’s just the difference in skillset of the two sides in these conditions that gave India the upper hand in this match.
Along with Ashwin, four other Indian batsmen – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane – went past the fifty-run mark at least once in this game. Two of these knocks came on a Day 3 pitch, yet the highest the English batsmen could manage was a score of 42 on a Day 2 track. That tells a lot about the difference in skillsets.