James Anderson and Jack Leach produced memorable spells of bowling to trigger a batting collapse, eventually bowl out India for 192 in the fourth innings and help England register a dominating 227-run win on Tuesday to take a 1-0 series lead in Chennai.
India, needing to chase down 381 at the start of Day 5, crumbled to Anderson's reverse swing and Leach's clinical spin and although Virat Kohli impressed with fighting half-half-century, it wasn't enough to deny England of a memorable win.
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Kohli and Gill were the only positives in India's batting on an otherwise forgettable day for the hosts. India lost Cheteshwar Pujara early, out caught behind off Leach after the pair had put on 19 runs to India's overnight score. The way Gill batted made it clear that India were fancying their chances of going for a win, but those plans were thwarted when Anderson sent Gill's off-stump cart-wheeling right after the batsman reached his third Test fifty.
Anderson rapped Ajinkya Rahane second ball on the pads, and while it was given not out due to the impact being outside off, he produced another beautiful in-swinger to castle India's vice-captain for a duck very next ball. Rishabh Pant spanked a four off Anderson to calm some nerves, but opened the face of his bat a bit too much for the ball to take a leading edge and lob to Joe Root at covers.
{{/usCountry}}Anderson rapped Ajinkya Rahane second ball on the pads, and while it was given not out due to the impact being outside off, he produced another beautiful in-swinger to castle India's vice-captain for a duck very next ball. Rishabh Pant spanked a four off Anderson to calm some nerves, but opened the face of his bat a bit too much for the ball to take a leading edge and lob to Joe Root at covers.
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As Kohli watched the onslaught from the other end, the India captain decided to get a move on. Aided by some ordinary bowling from Dom Bess, Kohli hit the off-spinner for three consecutive fours in the 38th over and along with R Ashwin began staging a fight for India. For Ashwin, it was Sydney all over again for a brief period as he took multiple blows from Jofra Archer. He copped a blow twice on his bowling arm, while a bouncer from the England pacer smashed into his helmet prompting a concussion check. Importantly for India though, Kohli and Ashwin took them safely till lunch.
After the interval, the pair brought up its fifty-run partnership with Kohli punching a delightful four off the backfoot and bringing up his 24th Test fifty. Ashwin's vigil finally ended when he tried to cut Leach too close to his body and ended up edging the ball to Jos Buttler. And when Ben Stokes cleaned up Kohli with a ball that stayed low, it acted as the final nail in the coffin before Leach and Archer completed the formalities.