The second – and final – day of the third Test between India and England in Ahmedabad was simply chaotic.
Only 59.4 overs were bowled but 17 wickets fell for just 176 runs as India wrapped up an emphatic 10-wicket win to take a 2-1 lead in the four-Test series.
The day was full of drama – it began with an England fightback, before the now trademark collapse, then India wrapping up the quickest Test victory in 86 years.
Here’s how it all played out on social media…
Leach and ‘Rootalitharan’ give England hope
After bowling England out for 112 on day one, India resumed on 99-3, looking to build a big first-innings lead and bat only once on a pitch already offering significant spin.
For England, it was all about getting the remaining India wickets as quickly as possible, and one fan reading the BBC Sport live text was hopeful that would happen…
Diane Smith: I am just a fool who begins each day of Tests feeling hopeful. Never mind, eh?
Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane took India into the lead before left-arm spinner Jack Leach removed both in successive overs to give England hope.
Did BBC Sport live texter Stephan Shemilt predict what was to come? “What are India doing this morning? First Rahane, now Rohit playing awful shots against Leach. Is this the fightback?” he wrote.
From there on in it was all about captain Joe Root, who went from part-time off-spinner to an English version of Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
Root dismissed the dangerous Rishabh Pant with his first ball, then accounted for Washington Sundar and Axar Patel to give him astonishing figures of 3-0.
Sean Bulpitt: A joy to watch Muttiah Rootalitharan this morning.
Richard Randle: Not sure if I’m watching Root or Warne at the moment…
Root mopped up the tail to finish with 5-8 from 6.2 overs as India slipped from 114-3 to 145 all out.
‘You can’t even miss a ball’
England’s fightback left India with a slender 33-run lead. Former England skipper and current Test Match Special pundit Michael Vaughan was certainly confident…
Those hopes didn’t last long as left-arm spinner Axar bowled Zak Crawley with the first ball of England’s second innings.
Having dismissed Ben Foakes with the final ball of the first innings, it meant Axar was on a hat-trick – and he thought he had claimed it when Jonny Bairstow was given out lbw sweeping.
A review saved Bairstow – but he was bowled next ball as England slumped to 0-2.
England and Middlesex pace bowler Steven Finn, who was part of The Cricket Social team, missed the wicket because he was on the phone. “This is phenomenal – you can’t even miss a ball.”
Kevin Pietersen – a member of the England team that won in India in 2012 – and former England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards summed up what many of us were thinking…
But perhaps the mood was captured best by England women’s spinner Alex Hartley…
Matthew Lambert: Test cricket is simultaneously the best and worst sport to follow. Can go from euphoria one moment with Root’s 5-8 to heading back to Earth with England 0-2. Lose by an innings maybe?
‘Shall we celebrate a 10-run partnership?’
Dom Sibley and Joe Root stopped the rot by adding 19 (we’re scraping the barrel, we know), before Root put on 31 with Ben Stokes.
Scoring runs was so difficult that some people suggested that, rather than celebrating a 50 or a century, we should recalibrate milestones.
Kieran Unitt: 20 runs+ should result in a lap of honour and a statue.
Chris: In this innings I’d like to see batsmen celebrating reaching 10 as they would when usually reaching a half century. Just a nod to the balcony would do.
Any real hope was short lived as England collapsed once more, leaving people questioning how they’d spend their weekend…
Mark in Kent: Might as well cancel my annual leave for tomorrow.
Tom: I’d booked tomorrow off work to sit on the sofa all day and watch the cricket. Worried it’s turning into a day of me just sitting on the sofa.
There was criticism for the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium…
…but there was also plenty of praise for Ravichandran Ashwin, who trapped Jofra Archer lbw to become the second fastest bowler to 400 Test wickets.
But was it all good for Test cricket?
After England were bowled out for 81 – meaning they had scored fewer than 200 runs in both innings combined for only the seventh time – India needed only 49 to win. In three and a bit days.
They required only 46 balls, with a Rohit Sharma six wrapping up victory.
Only 140.2 overs were bowled in the match and former players had their doubts about the quality of cricket on show.
Pietersen wasn’t happy with either side…
We’ll leave you with this final thought from one of our readers, Patrick Noone, who pointed out that there were more runs (434) in Thursday’s Twenty20 international between New Zealand and Australia than this entire Test (387).
How many days will the final Test last? Your guess is as good as ours…
