England makes a disastrous start to their innings when India takes five wickets cheaply

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It didn’t take long before England fell back to earth. Only two days of the second test for the harsh reality of taking on the best team in the world on your own terms have to be emphatically demonstrated.

The brilliance of one of the greatest test victories in England was replaced on the same Chennai soil by Indian dominance, so that a complete win at the series level already seems guaranteed.

Same floor but a completely different playing field as the domestic conditions were extremely exaggerated by a surface so obviously inadequately prepared for the spinners that it was unsuitable for testing purposes.

India ended the day with a sovereign lead of 249 runs over England and only one wicket down

Jack Leach got the only wicket in India’s second inning, firing Shubman Gill LBW

Rohit Sharma looked good with the bat again when he failed to finish day 25

Perhaps England should take it as a compliment that the Indian board reportedly fired the curator they appointed to oversee preparations for both tests in Chennai and instead left them in the hands of the team leadership.

As a result, India effectively took the toss out of the equation by making sure the field of play behaved badly on day one and remained miserable throughout.

But England would rightly feel that India had gone too far with a surface that would blush Somerset from day one and raise eyebrows as the ball took out lumps. No pitch should do this in the first session of a five-day test.

Ishant Sharma celebrates England opener Rory Burns’ wicket to cause a collapse of the highest order in the morning session of the second day in Chennai

India had England four wickets down by lunch when they took control of the second test

The confidence flowed through the Indian ranks as they pierced England’s supreme order

However, there is no place for sour grapes. This has always been the toughest job and England can hardly blame India for playing to their strengths after catching a cold for the first time.

Bad as the field is, India has outperformed England by a wide margin in the first two days and will be confident of winning not only this Test but the series 3-1 if things continue.

Firstly, Rohit Sharma played majestically to hit a really great hundred and lift India to a score of 329, which was way above average, even as England soon took the last four wickets for 29 yesterday.

Then Ravichandran Ashwin showed what a world class off-crank he is by approaching 400 test wickets with five more and taking advantage of any help he could collect on his home ground.

Ashwin was also better supported by 27-year-old debutant Axar Patel, the left-armed spinner, which was much more difficult for the English batsmen than Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar together in the first Test.

India celebrate another English wicket as it dominated day two in Chennai

Moeen Ali is sacked by Axar Patel when England lost their seventh wicket for 105 runs

Ajinkya Rahane makes a dive catch to release Moeen Ali during the collapse of the English batting

In contrast, England’s off-spinner Moeen Ali, returning to Test Cricket for the first time since Ashes’ opening game in 2019, was understandably rusty despite throwing a miracle ball on day one to sack Virat Kohli.

He ended up with four wickets but went for more than four and couldn’t get any of the control that Dom Bess lacked before England got him out of the line of fire. Jack Leach bowled well again, but was no match for Ashwin and Patel.

There is every chance that Moeen will return home after this test to rest before the white ball games.

It says everything Joe Root looked better at in his eleven disciplined overs. Not that the captain could be a frontline bowler with so much else on his plate.

Moeen Ali (center) took two wickets early on when India was left out in their innings for 329

Olly Stone celebrates after taking Kuldeep Yadav’s wicket – one of two for the bowler

But England soon got into great trouble when four doors fell before lunch

England is heavily dependent on Root with the Bat and when he suffered a rare mistake and gave Patel his first test wicket, the writing was on the wall.

Rory Burns was unlucky enough to have Ishant Sharma, his second duck in a row, falling to the extreme limit, and Ollie Pope played Ashwin and everyone else before distracting Mohammed Siraj’s first shipment in a home test against a diving Rishabh pant.

The best English batsman was the man who stood out behind the stumps too. Ben Foakes looked calm and serene as he scored an unbeaten 42 in his first Test in two years. Only when he got tired late and missed a stump with Rohit on the 24th did Foakes falter.

He wasn’t the only newcomer to do well. Olly Stone has shown that as long as England can stay fit they have another bowler of extreme pace and strength in Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.

India’s first innings overall already looks like a steep question for England as the pitch crumbles

Ishant Sharma celebrates Rory Burns wicket breakthrough as England wobbled

For the inexperienced Indian referees, these were two chastening days. At first it was embarrassing that television official Anil Chaudhary had made two terrible mistakes that both went India’s way.

Sunday brought a howl from standing referee Virender Sharma, who stated that Rohit had played a shot on the 21st and could not get to Moeen despite having a bat behind his block when it was hit outside the line of the off-stump . Home Bias or Honest Mistake?

Let’s give the benefit of a doubt they were dying to give the Indian batsmen and say the latter.

It is Rohit, who was unbeaten against India at 25 out of 54 – a lead of 249 in the end – who has a bigger thorn in England than his referee of the same name.

Root knows that if a series of such promises is not to result in major defeat, his team must play bowl spin as well as be much smarter.