England lost their final eight wickets for just 71 runs to hand India victory on day five of the second Test in Visakhapatnam. The tourists hopes of salvaging an unlikely draw that would have kept the five-match series level at 0-0 were handed a crucial blow during Sundays evening session when openers Haseeb Hameed and Alastair Cook fell late on, and another batting collapse sealed an emphatic 246-run defeat.
Ben Duckett, whose place in the side will now come under severe scrutiny after he managed only 18 runs in three innings, set the tone by falling to spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the third time in the match. Moeen Ali was also dismissed in the first hour of play when he was caught by Virat Kohli off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja for two.
Jayant Yadav took care of Ben Stokes and Joe Roots initially stubborn resistance ended on 25 when he was trapped lbw by Mohammed Shami. England went in at lunch on 142-7 after Adil Rashid edged behind to wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha.
The formidable Ashwin then bowled Zafar Ansari for a duck and Stuart Broad added five before a review confirmed a leg before appeal from Jayant.
A miserable day was concluded when James Anderson became the first England batsman since 1906 to pick up a king pair by falling first ball to the same bowler. Jonny Bairstow ended on 34* as Trevor Bayliss side were all out 158.
England have a habit of collapsing, bemoaned former England stalwart turned BBC pundit Geoffrey Boycott. They go down like a pack of cards, like dominoes – call it what you want. This pitch is not a minefield. England have depth in their batting and good seamers, but there have been concerns over an opener and a number four for a while. Joe Root has moved up to three, which means we now have a problem at number four. Hameed looks the part as an opener but hes only 19. They have collapses, and thats what hurts them.
Speaking after the defeat, visiting captain Alastair Cook added: The first day was crucial – it was a good toss to win. We saw the first day was easiest to bat. You can see the scoring rates – it became harder. In India youve got to score first-innings runs and try to get parity. We lost those five wickets but from that moment on we showed a lot of character and fight.
England now trail 1-0 heading into the third Test, which gets underway at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Saturday morning (26 November).
