At the start of the fourth day’s play, the Indians would have had an inkling that they were going down in this Test match as well. So did most of the Indian fans. However, the manner in which they went kaput would have felt even the best of the Indian fans’ hearts with the deepest gloom.
Chasing 476 for a win, the Indians handed the second Test win over to England on a platter, by a margin of 319 runs. only 47.4 overs into the innings, India were bowled out for 158 and were 0-2 down with only two more games to play.
The task was always going to be uphill after the seeds of the defeat had been sown by a lethargic performance on the field by the Indians. They had allowed England to get away with 419 runs in the day, which meant that home team were 441 for six overnight and already had a foot in the door. The manner of the Indian implosion only expedited that process towards the defeat.
The day began with Matt Prior and Tim Bresnan scoring a few quick runs before the wicket-keeper went back to the pavilion for 73. However, Bresnan kept attacking the Indian bowling and got himself close to his maiden Test match century. Unfortunately for him, Praveen Kumar got the better of him as well.
By the time the English were bowled out, they had already scored 544, setting the Indians a massive 476. The enormity of the target was such that never before in the history of Test match cricket – all 2000 Tests of it – had any side ever chased down 476 in the fourth innings of a game.
But what followed was an absolute disaster. There was not a single Indian batsman in the top seven except Sachin Tendulkar, who got anywhere close to getting into double-figures. Tendulkar waged a lone battle for some time, got to his half-century before he offered no shot to an incoming ball from James Anderson. The umpire also offered no reprieves and sent the Indians packing.
Before that though, the top-order had caved in like a pack of cards. Rahul Dravid nibbled at a ball outside the off-stump, VVS Laxman was bowled off a peach, Abhinav Mukund failed to keep his wrists down to a short ball, Suresh Raina was caught off an attempted pull, Yuvraj Singh followed Mukund in the manner of dismissal and captain MS Dhoni was dismissed first ball, not offering a shot.
India were 55 for six before forging a few partnerships to get through to 158.
Stuart Broad won the man of the match award as England will now go into the third Test match with an unbeatable 2-0 lead.