Spinner Monty Panesar clinched a career-best match haul, as England romped to a historic 10-wicket triumph shortly before lunch on day four of the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
England had effectively squared the series on Sunday, thanks largely to Kevin Pietersen’s superb century, and merely had to wrap up the result in the new week. They duly did so professionally, thoroughly and emphatically, leaving India to answer for a rare defeat in their own backyard.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, particularly, will cop plenty of criticism for his request that the pitches on offer for the four-match series turn from day one. While Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha exploited the conditions well, they were entirely upstaged by Panesar and Graeme Swann, who shared 19 victims.
India had hoped opener Gautam Gambhir would inspire a tougher target, but his departure, lbw to Swann for 65, left the opposition a mere pursuit of 58. Tail-enders Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, meanwhile, were left to lament their shoddy shot selection.
Alastair Cook and Nick Compton, as if to hammer home a message for the remainder of the series, were largely aggressive in reply.
Racing to an unbroken 58-run stand from a mere 9.4 overs, the duo accrued five boundaries and a six between them. Ashwin, Ojha and Harbhajan Singh – the only bowlers to get the ball in England’s second innings – were made to look like schoolboy spinners.
The result certainly avenged the visitors’ nine-wicket defeat in the series opener, and garnered a hefty physiological edge ahead of the third match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. India, though, need to promptly rectify the wrongs of their first Test loss after winning the toss since 2006.
