Second Test between India and England, Day 4: IND vs. ENG India leveled the series at 1-1 with a 106-run victory in the second Test at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam. The third Test between the two teams will now take place in Rajkot, and considering the outcomes of the previous two games, it should be another thrilling battle.
England's fourth day of play began with opener Zack Crawley and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed taking on Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel. England needed 332 runs to win, but their score of 399 proved to be too much.
India had their first breakthrough of the day when Axar dismissed the lower-order batsman for 23 after he had been thoroughly beaten by Ahmed. But throughout the first session, England maintained their pace, scoring at a rate of about five runs each over. Ollie Pope got off to a fast start in his innings, smashing Axar Patel for a boundary and hitting at a pace above 100 all the way through.
Ollie Pope was later removed from the game as well, after captain Rohit Sharma caught him at slip while he attempted to play a shot off Ashwin. A similar pattern was followed by Joe Root when he began his innings, hitting Ashwin for two boundaries off the reverse sweep in the opening three deliveries. When Root attempted to leave his crease in order to give Ashwin a heavy blow, he was eventually removed for sixteen.
With two significant wickets of Jonny Bairstow and well-positioned Zack Crawley just before lunch, India turned the tide of the match, forcing two new batsmen to enter the crease in the day's second session.
Following lunch, Ben Stokes, the captain, and Ben Foakes appeared to be settling into their positions at the wicket during the day's second session when Stokes' innings was ended by a straight smash from Shreyas Iyer. Ben Foakes was bowled out soon after, but not before he and Tom Hartley pieced together an innings-long partnership that gave England a semblance of hope.
Earlier in the game, Shubman Gill's outstanding century helped India reach 255 runs in their second innings. Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel also made significant contributions. Gill made two sixes and eleven fours. After 2018, Shubman Gill became the third Indian player to hit a century while occupying the third rank.
Before that, Indian bowlers, spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah's "Sixfer," dominated play in the second day of the match. They held the visitors to a total of 255, gaining an advantage of 143 runs that turned out to be significant in the match.
Regarding England Rehan Ahmed claimed three, James Anderson claimed two, and Tom Hartley claimed four wickets. One wicket was claimed by rookie Shoaib Bashir in the second innings.
