ICC World Test Championship: India Move to Second Spot After Dominant Win Against England in Chennai

Exploiting the spin-friendly conditions, a dominant India beat England by 317 runs in the second Test to level the four-match series 1-1 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. India bundled out England for 164 in their second innings with more than four sessions to spare in the match. The victory was crucial for India in the context of the World Test Championship as they need to win the series with at least a 2-1 margin in order to make it to Lord’s for the title clash against New Zealand. India had lost the opening Test at the same venue by a massive 227-run margin.

Interestingly India, England and Sri Lanka are all in with a chance of making it to the final of the inaugural WTC final. India need to win the series either 2-1 or 3-1 in order to seal their spot in the final.

England have a harder task at hand as only a 3-1 series win will guarantee their spot in the final, meaning they have to win the next two Tests at Ahmedabad.

Australia, meanwhile, will qualify should England win the series 2-1 or if the series is drawn.

The Test series between India and England, meanwhile, will move to Ahmedabad where the third Test, which will be a day/night affair with pink ball, begins on February 24.

In pursuit of an improbable 482-run target on a difficult pitch, England began at the overnight score of 53 for three but their batsmen struggled to counter the spin challenge posed by the home bowlers.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/53) first sent back Dan Lawrence (26) and then removed Stokes (8) to add to the misery of the visitors.

Axar Patel (5/60) enticed a lofted sweep from Ollie Pope (12), who was caught by Ishant Sharma. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav got his first wicket when he had Ben Foakes (2) caught by Patel.

Skipper Joe Root (33) kept one end tight in the morning session but struggled to handle ball from Patel that bounced a bit too much and was caught in the slip region.

Once Root was back in the pavilion, it was not difficult for India to wrap up the proceedings though Moeen Ali hit an attacking 43.

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