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India 329 (Rohit 161, Rahane 67, Pant 58*, Moeen 4-128, Stone 3-47) and 286 (Aswhin 106, Kohli 62, Moeen 4-98, Leach 4-100) beat England 134 (Foakes 42*, Ashwin 5-43) and 164 (Moeen 43, Axar 5-60, Aswhin 3-53) by 317 runs
Chennai: India completed the formality of taking the last seven England second innings wickets on the fourth afternoon of the second Test to beat the visitors by a whopping 317 runs to draw level the four-match series 1-1.
Faced with the hopeless task of chasing 482 on a deteriorating pitch, England were bowled out for 164 to leave the four-Test series poised at 1-1.
Only Joe Root provided prolonged resistance, but even the captain needed plenty of fortune in his 33, before Moeen Ali chanced his arm for 43 off only 18 balls.
Debutant left-arm spinner Axar Patel claimed 5-60, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took 3-53 - and with match figures of 8-96 - to go with a century in India's second innings.
After two matches in Chennai, the series moves to Ahmedabad, with the day-night third Test beginning on 23 February.
Halfway through, this series between two Test heavyweights is living up to its billing.
With this win India move to the No.2 position while England slip to No.4.
⬆️ India move to the No.2 position
— ICC (@ICC) February 16, 2021
⬇️ England slip to No.4
Here's the latest #WTC21 standings table after the conclusion of the second #INDvENG Test! pic.twitter.com/bLNCVyDg4z
After England produced one of their finest away performances to win the first Test by 227 runs, India have dominated the second, exploiting their expertise of dusty, spinning conditions.
While the tourists cashed in on winning the toss in the first Test, India did the same in the second. Even if this match will be remembered for the pitch, that should not detract from the fact that the home side have been vastly superior.
Between them, Rohit Sharma and Ashwin made more runs than the entire England team. Ashwin and Axar applied more pressure than England spinners Jack Leach and Moeen, while Rishabh Pant pulled off as many moments of wicketkeeping brilliance as Ben Foakes.
However, it did not take much time for Kuldeep to get into the act as Ben Foakes mistimed the attempted slog-sweep, and this time Axar Patel ensured that the opportunity wasn’t shelled as he completed an easy catch at midwicket as England went into the Lunch break down in the dumps at 7/116.
Axar Patel struck immediately after the Lunch break as he got one to spit off from the rough and take the glove on Joe Root’s tentative poke to lob straight into first slip’s hands where Ajinkya Rahane did not make any mistake.
The left-arm orthodox claimed yet another wicket in his next over after he trapped Olly Stone LBW to become the 9th Indian bowler and 6th spinner to claim a five-wicket haul on Test debut.
Moeen Ali smoked a few lusty blows off the Indian spinners before the inevitable eventually happened as he missed an attempted slog off Kuldeep Yadav, only to see Rishabh Pant effect another brilliant stumping.
The floodlit third Test, played with the pink ball, will add a different dynamic, with pace bowling perhaps playing a bigger part.
