India vs England: Virat Kohli Lauds 'Superb Character and Fighting Spirit on Display' After Second Test

Taking advantage of the spin-friendly conditions on offer, a dominant Indian cricket team beat England by 317 runs on Day 4 of the second Test to level the four-match series 1-1 in the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. India bowled out England for 164 in their second innings with more than four sessions to go in the match. The victory was crucial for India in the context of World Test Championship as they need to win the series at least by 2-1 to make the cut for the title clash against New Zealand. India had lost the opening Test at the same venue by a massive 227-run margin.

India skipper Virat Kohli took to Twitter after the match to praise the team. “Superb character and fighting spirit on display. Well done boys. The focus is now on the next one,” he said on Twitter.

Kohli also spoke after the match about how relieved he and the team were to have crowds back at the stadium.

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“Look, it was a bit strange in the first game to play at home without crowds in the stands. Things were flat to be honest, and myself included. We to pick up the energy. We were on the money this game and the crowd makes a massive different and you push more as a team,” he said at the post-match presentation.

“The Chennai crowd everyone knows is very, very intelligent and they understand their cricket really well. For the 15-20 mins, when the bowler needs support from the crowd, it’s my responsibility (to egg the crowd on). When I’m bowling in the heat, you need motivation from the crowd.”

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.

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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.

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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.

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

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