India once again scripted a memorable comeback from a crushing defeat, bundling out England for 164 runs to register a win by 317 runs at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium with a day to spare on Tuesday. The four-match series is now level at 1-1. 

Moeen Ali finished as the top-scorer for the visitors with a gung ho 18-ball, 43-run cameo, and was the last to fall as he charged down the track against Kuldeep Yadav, completely missing the delivery for Rishabh Pant to complete a simple stumping and cap a comprehensive win.  

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With the win, which is India’s biggest-ever over England, the Men in Blue have climbed to the second spot on the ICC World Test Championship standings. They will qualify for the final against New Zealand later this year with a 2-1 or a 3-1 victory in the series. 

After the crushing 227-run win over the hosts in the first Test, England’s six-match winning streak away from home came to a screeching halt after the Indian spinners took all ten wickets in the second innings.

Debutant Axar Patel (5/60) became only the second Indian left-arm spinner, after Dilip Doshi, and the sixth overall to take a five-wicket haul on his maiden Test match. 

Chennai-born Ravichandran Ashwin, adjudged man-of-the-match, put in a starring performance in the victory, taking a total of eight wickets in the match along with scoring his fifth Test century on Monday. 

Ashwin took five wickets as England’s first innings was wrapped up for 134 runs, after Rohit Sharma’s 161 powered India to 329.  He then scored a 148-ball 106 in the second innings as India posted 286 runs to set an imposing target of 482 runs for the visitors and took three important wickets in England’s second innings to set up the win. 

Starting the day at 53 for the loss of three wickets, England lost Dan Lawrence (26 from 53) early as Ashwin struck with his very first ball of the innings. The off-spinner anticipated Lawrence’s charge down the track and beat him with a drifted-in delivery at his legs, with Rishabh Pant completing a sharp stumping. 

There was no repeat of the Headingley heroics for the mercurial Ben Stokes (8 from 51) as Ashwin struck right after the drinks break. A flatter, quicker delivery from Ashwin deceived Stokes with no spin and nicked off his inside edge for Kohli take a regulation catch at the slips.

Ollie Pope (12 from 20) and Ben Foakes (2 from 9) followed in quick succession and in similar fashion, falling to botched attempts at the sweep shots to Patel and Kuldeep Yadav respectively as England were reeling at 116/7 at Lunch.

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Patel removed skipper Joe Root with a freak dismissal after the break, as a ball bounced up from the rough and caught Root’s glove on its way to Ajinkya Rahane in the slips. 

He then completed his fifer with Olly Stone’s (0 from 5) dismissal, trapping him on the crease for an LBW decision, with Stone’s referral of the decision going in vain. 

Ali lived by the sword, notching five maximums and three boundaries in his short innings, and died by it, beaten by a flighted delivery from Yadav with Pant completing the stumping to complete India’s comeback.