India defeated England by 10 wickets in the third Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. The pink ball, day-night game at the newly-built Motera Stadium ended inside two days as Virat Kohli and Co put in a dominating performance with the ball.
The stars of the show for the hosts were spinners Axar Patel, who bagged 11 wickets in the match, and Ashwin Ravichandran, who became the second-fastest to get to 400 wickets in Test cricket.
Report: Axar, Ashwin star as India beat England by 10 wickets to take 2-1 lead in Ahmedabad
India started day two of the Test at 99/3 in their first inning but were bowled out for just 145 as England captain Joe Root picked his first five-wicket haul in Tests with some brilliant off-spin bowling.
However, India bounced back with the ball as Axar and Ashwin ran riot to bowl the visitors out for just 81 runs in their second innings. Set a target of 81, India finished off the game in quick time with openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill remaining unbeaten.
“The result went our way. But I don’t think the quality of batting was up to standard by both teams,” said Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was a very good pitch to bat on in the first innings. The ball came on nicely. It was just a bizarre Test match. I don’t think I have ever been part of something like this where things have moved so quickly. I think we all need to stand up and take notice of what Ashwin has achieved. I told him I am going to call you Leg from now on. A modern day legend.”
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the result:
An absolute outstanding team effort. 💯
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 25, 2021
Brilliant on the field. Way to go boys 🇮🇳👏 pic.twitter.com/No0dXnbGmG
Eventful Test match, but glad to get another win and lead the series 2-1. Lots to take from this game, including standout performances by @akshar2026 and @ashwinravi99 s who ensured I stood up to the stumps a lot more (and earlier) than usual! @BCCI pic.twitter.com/VV3FfiC5J6
— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) February 25, 2021
finished in 2 days Not sure if that’s good for test cricket !If @anilkumble1074 and @harbhajan_singh bowled on these kind of wickets they would be sitting on a thousand and 800 ?🤔However congratulations to 🇮🇳 @akshar2026 what a spell! congratulations @ashwinravi99 @ImIshant 💯
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) February 25, 2021
Eventful Test match, but glad to get another win and lead the series 2-1. Lots to take from this game, including standout performances by @akshar2026 and @ashwinravi99 s who ensured I stood up to the stumps a lot more (and earlier) than usual! @BCCI pic.twitter.com/VV3FfiC5J6
— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) February 25, 2021
Well done @ashwinravi99 on reaching 400 wickets .Phenomenal! Congratulations on a fantastic achievement. Great going, keep it up! 👍🏽
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) February 25, 2021
Congratulations @ashwinravi99 on 400 test wickets.. well done.. keep going @BCCI @StarSportsIndia #ENGvIND
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 25, 2021
This might be the most bonkers morning’s cricket ever.
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) February 25, 2021
It is the 5th time since 2016 that England have been bowled out in a session.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 25, 2021
It is a weird one admittedly. If you have a pitch on which one or two balls every over turn, but the bowlers are also able to bowl their armer, or their straight one - is that "excessive assistance"? I doubt it. the Chennai pitch turned far more more than this one.
— cricketingview (@cricketingview) February 25, 2021
IMHO, it's a bad pitch not coz it has helped one side more than the other but coz one aspect of the game has looked so terribly meek in front of the other. The opposite of this isn't a green track at Lord's but a placid Rajkot track where only 2 innings get played over 5 days.
— RandomCricketPhotos&Videos (@RandomCricketP1) February 25, 2021
I wonder what newbies to Test cricket are thinking right now? #INDvENG
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) February 25, 2021
Want one exhibition match on this pitch tomorrow: india’s batsmen v axar and Ashwin.
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) February 25, 2021
Calls to make this a 5 match series, with another game in the next 3 days.
— Sarah Waris (@swaris16) February 25, 2021
Lord's pitch in August pic.twitter.com/scmHoyJYOD
— ⚰️ (@The_Sleigher) February 25, 2021
Well at least I have the weekend to do all the work that I did not do today. #INDvENG
— Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury) February 25, 2021
2 - @ashwinravi99 has become the second quickest bowler to register 400 Test wickets in men's cricket (77 matches); he also becomes the fourth Indian bowler to reach the milestone. Landmark.#INDvsENG #INDvsENG_2021 #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/wUn94R86tb
— OptaJeev (@OptaJeev) February 25, 2021
The Ahmedabad Test is completed in just 140.2 overs - the shortest ever Test match involving India in which a result is achieved.
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) February 25, 2021
The India-Bangladesh Test at Eden Gardens in 2019 had lasted for 161.2 overs.#INDvENG #INDvsENG #ENGvIND #ENGvsIND
162 deliveries of pace from England in this Test.
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) February 25, 2021
Only once in the last 43 years of Test cricket have they bowled fewer deliveries of pace in a match.#INDvENG
The build up to the pink ball test lasted longer than the actual game. #INDvsENG
— Naomi Datta (@nowme_datta) February 25, 2021
With 140.2 overs this Ahmedabad Test is the shortest result oriented Test match since 1935, when the Bridgetown Test was completed in 112 overs with England beating West Indies. #INDvENG #INDvsENG #ENGvIND #ENGvsIND
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) February 25, 2021
Fewest balls bowled in a completed Test:
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) February 25, 2021
656 AUS v SA Melbourne 1932
672 WI v ENG Bridgetown 1935
788 ENG v AUS Manchester 1888
792 ENG v AUS Lord's 1888
796 SA v ENG Cape Town 1889
815 ENG v SA The Oval 1912
842 #INDvENG Ahmedabad 2021
One stat that shouldn't get overlooked - there were a total of 18 reviews in the 2-day #INDvENG #PinkBallTest at the #NarendraModiStadium; of those 18, only 4 were reversed! Difficult pitch = difficult for Umpiring. But Nitin Menon and Anil Chaudhary did very well!
— Arun Gopalakrishnan (@statanalyst) February 25, 2021
England outsmarted India in 2012 at their own game. Came with the spin resources and played their best team. This rotation & resting has deprived England of their best chance to win this series. 2/2 #INDvENG
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) February 25, 2021
Time taken to complete match from start to finish:
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) February 25, 2021
Men's ODI World Cup semi-final, Manchester 2019
28 hours 27 minutes
3rd India v England men's Test, Ahmedabad, 2021
29 hours 22 minutes#INDvENG
⚪️ 434 v 387 🔴
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 25, 2021
There were more runs scored in today's T20 match between New Zealand and Australia than the third Test between India and England. pic.twitter.com/1nWwQDuSuX
This is India’s quickest victory in Test cricket in terms of balls bowled 🔥
— ICC (@ICC) February 25, 2021
They have finished the match in 842 deliveries!#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/1Uxr7uPGv0
Pitch this pitch that. It’s okay boss. Occasionally bowlers will have undue advantage. Batsmen have undue advantage in two other formats. Enjoy this extreme. It’s riveting.
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) February 25, 2021
Fantastic win in the Pink ball Test.
— Umesh Yaadav (@y_umesh) February 25, 2021
Well done #TeamIndia 🇮🇳
A clinical performance in Ahmedabad. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/LYPU94iFGz
Congratulations @TeamIndia well done boys ✌🏻❤️❤️🇮🇳🇮🇳#mshami11 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/boLQGBtxRQ
— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) February 25, 2021