India vs England: Rohit Sharma and Co click as a unit on Day 4 to seal series-levelling triumph in Vizag

Team India had been served a rude wake up call by Ben Stokes and company in Hyderabad, where they would end up on the wrong side of the result. The match was expected to finish inside three days, but instead got extended to the fourth day and ended in thrilling fashion. For a moment, ‘Bazball’ had indeed threatened India’s dominance in their own backyard.

A little further to the east along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, the second of five Tests also ended inside four days in Visakhapatnam but this one played out in a manner that is a lot more familiar for the Indian team and for its billion-strong fans.

Rohit Sharma and company bounced back in style, outperforming their opponents both with bat as well as with ball to collect a morale-boosting 106-run victory. A victory that not only has helped them level the series with three matches to play, but gives them the psychological edge heading into the third Test in Rajkot, which takes place in 10 days’ time.

There had been a number of factors behind India’s turnaround in Vizag, thanks mainly to a number of standout individual performances across the first three days.

Yashasvi Jaiswal had slammed a majestic 209 in the first innings that helped India mount nearly 400 on the board despite none of the other batters crossing 40. It was a similar story in their second innings as well with Shubman Gill overcoming his lean patch with a sparkling 104. Gill was the only batter to cross fifty in their second innings and his knock was crucial in helping India set a daunting target of 399.

With the ball, it was Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance that stood out. While he bowled probing lines with the brand new cherry, Bumrah was at times unplayable with the older ball and put up a masterclass in the art of using reverse swing to one’s advantage. The pace spearhead ended up decimating the English batting lineup with figures of 6/45 — his best at home — and restricted them to a little more than 250.

Collective performance on Day 4 helps India seal the deal

For a majority of the Test, it was standout individual performances that helped the Indians stay ahead of the curve and dictate terms. On the fourth — and what turned out to be the final — day however, India sealed a commanding victory over Stokes and Co by clicking as a unit, which ultimately helped them counter the ‘Bazball’ threat successfully.

Bumrah, for instance, was brilliant with the ball in England’s chase as well. When he wasn’t getting the ball to reverse as much as he did in the first innings, he turned to other factors such as using the width of the crease and creating a difficult angle to trap Jonny Bairstow LBW with one that held its line and struck him in front of middle and leg.

There was another phase later in the day when Bumrah wasn’t able to break the partnership between Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley, which had swelled to 55 for the eighth wicket and was beginning to frustrate the Indians. From out of nowehere, Bumrah produced a slower one to catch Foakes off guard, resulting in the keeper-batter chipping the ball back in his direction for an easy return catch. From thereon, it was only a matter of time before the innings folded up.

England had begun their chase of the 399-run target in the typical slam-bang fashion that has become something of a trademark for them in the ‘Bazball’ era, with openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett helping England race past fifty in a little over 10 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin would break the stand by having Duckett caught by the keeper off a bat-pad deflection, but the threat of England repeating their epic chase at Birmingham in the summer of 2022 lingered. James Anderson would later state that they would chase in a similar manner even if they were set a target of 600.

It was spin that brought India back into the contest when Crawley and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed began the fourth day on a confident note, the latter getting trapped leg-before by an arm ball from Axar Patel that slid through. Both Ollie Pope and Joe Root would get off to T20-like starts after that in an attempt to put the Indians under pressure again, only to fall to Ashwin’s guile as the senior off-spinner dismissed both to take his Test wicket tally to 499.

Ashwin made excellent use of the angle created by going round the wicket to Pope, getting him to nick the ball to the slips, while it was his presence of mind that led to Root’s wicket as he noticed the star batter charge down the track, altering his line and length to induce a thick outside edge.

Kuldeep would later inflict a body blow to England’s hopes by getting the ball to grip and turn, beating Crawley’s inside edge and hitting him on the pad in front of leg. The left-arm wrist spinner managed to successfully convince skipper Rohit to take this upstairs, and the sight of three ‘Reds’ on HawkEye was met with wild celebrations on the field as well as in the stands at the ACA-VDCA Stadium as the set opener departed for 73. Bairstow would then be trapped leg-before the very next over leaving England reeling at 194/6 at lunch.

It’s not just Bumrah and the spinners who contributed towards the wickets though. India’s fielding standards picked up by a considerable margin in Visakhapatnam, and was superb on the fourth day where the Indians not only pulled off an outstanding catch and a run-out but put in the extra effort to cut off runs and build pressure on the visitors.

Rohit pulled off a blinder at slip to dismiss Pope, having had a fraction of a second to react. Later in the day, Shreyas Iyer made the most of England skipper Stokes’ lazy running between the wickets to run him out with a brilliant direct hit at the striker’s end, virtually ending the chasing team’s hopes of pulling off a Headingley 2019-like miracle.

The Indian team will head into the 10-day break in a relaxed state of mind, awaiting BCCI’s announcement of the squad for the next three matches with fans eagerly waiting for news on the participation of seniors Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami. As for skipper Rohit, coach Rahul Dravid and the rest of the Indian team, they have to ensure that the celebrations don’t linger for too long and lead to complacency. They have the edge heading to Rajkot, but face an English team that has fought back against greater odds in the recent past.

If anything, the Vizag result has just spiced up the series and we should be in for a cracker in each of the remaining fixtures.