India's spinners wreaked havoc on Day 5 as the hosts crushed England by a huge margin of 246 runs to win the second Test in Visakhapatnam, on Monday.
- Scorecard
Off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Jayant Yadav claimed three wickets each as England were bundled out for a paltry 158 after being set 405 for victory.
India, who took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, continued their unbeaten run in 2016. Out of the nine Tests they have played this year, India have won six, while three ended in draws.
Having defended doggedly on the fourth evening, England caved in without much resistance on Day 5 losing their last eight wickets for an addition of 71 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin (three for 52) and debutant Jayant Yadav (three for 30) being the wreckers-in-chief at the Dr YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium which hosted its first ever Test match.
Captain Alastair Cook was England's top scorer in the second innings with a battling knock of 54, while Jonny Bairstow finished unbeaten on 34 as the visitors struggled to cope with variable bounce on a fifth day track.
It took the home team 32 balls to get the first breakthrough on Day 5 as Ben Duckett was once again snapped up by Ashwin for a duck to continue his poor showing in the series and Moeen Ali was caught by Virat Kohli for two.
It was a study contrast as the top three batsmen of Alastair Cook (54), Haseeb Hameed (25) and Joe Root (25) consumed 439 balls -- 73.1 overs -- but the rest gave their wickets away quite easily.
Having showed some tenacity on Day 4 to bat out 59.2 overs to reach 87 for two, England were blown away this morning and lost five wickets in 33.4 overs in the first session before India bowled them out for 158 in the post-lunch session.
It took India 24 balls and 22 minutes after the lunch break to complete a resounding victory..
While skipper Virat Kohli's aggregate of 248 runs (167 and 81) laid the cornerstone for the victory, the contribution of India's premier all-rounder Ashwin, who scored 52 runs and had match figures of eight for 119, was equally significant.
Ashwin now has 231 wickets from 41 Tests apart from 1670 runs that includes four hundreds and seven half-centuries. The India off-spinner also became the leading wicket-taker of 2016 with 55 wickets surpassing Sri Lankan Rangana Herath (54 scalps).
Not to forget young Jayant, who bowled a ripper to get Ben Stokes and played a couple of gritty knocks down the order. Mohammed Shami (2/30) was menacing when the ball reversed and Ravindra Jadeja did his bit in the second innings providing important breakthroughs.
Earlier, Root had some lucky escape with Virat Kohli dropping the English No. 3 on nine at leg slip off Ashwin, while a caught behind decision was also overturned off the same bowler
The first wicket for India came after just 15 minutes into the day with Ashwin removing a tense-looking Duckett, who perished trying to play the sweep.
There was extra bounce but Duckett's shot selection did him in as the ball hit his gloves and hit the pad before looping into Wriddhiman Saha's gloves.
Persisting with a tidy line and aiming the roughs, left-arm spinner Jadeja dismissed Moeen Ali as his forward defensive prod saw him get an inside edge which was taken by Kohli at backward short leg.
The ball seemed to have bounced more than normal after hitting the edge of a widening crack.
Maintaining a fine over rate, Indian spinners ran through the opening hour bowling 20.4 overs and were quick to get the second new ball in 80 overs and get their exhausted reviews quota renewed.
Off-spinner Yadav bowled a beauty to dismiss Ben Stokes for six, before he finished off the match with the wickets of Stuart Broad and James Anderson off successive deliveries to cap off an impressive showing with both bat and ball in his debut Test match.
