India vs England, 2nd Test: R Ashwin completes 29th fifer to bundle tourists out for 134 at Chepauk

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Chennai, Feb 14: Ravichandran Ashwin once again wreaked havoc with the ball to grab his career's 29th five-wicket haul as a dominant performance from Indian bowlers bundled England out for 134 in their first innings on day two of the second Test match at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday (February 14).

R Ashwin continued his good form with the ball as he returned with impeccable figures of 5/43 as the tourists witnessed a batting collapse on the Chepauk track which has plenty to offer to the spinners. Ishant Sharma (2/22) and debutant Axar Patel (2/40) picked up two wickets each. Pacer Mohammed Siraj (1/5) bagged a wicket.

Ashwin got the wicket of Stuart Broad to complete his 29th fifer and the Tamil Nadu off-spinner also became the first bowler in the history of Test cricket to pick up 200 wickets of left-handed batsmen.

The day belonged to the Indian spinners as they had England reeling on an exploding pitch. India, who resumed the day at 300 for six, could only score 29 runs in the morning session with Rishabh Pant (58 not out of 77 balls) running out of partners.

At the innings break, England were trailing India by 195 runs and just managed to avoid the follow-on face a herculean task in getting close to India's first innings score of 329 on a dustbowl. Local star Ravichandran Ashwin struck at the stroke of lunch and tea break to help the hosts dominate.

Dan Lawrence (9, 52 balls) was caught at short-leg by Shubman Gill as England sank into further trouble before lunch and Ben Stokes was dismissed by a peach of a delivery from Ashwin soon after play resumed in the second session.

Pacer Ishant Sharma provided the first breakthrough for India when he had left-handed opener Rory Burns LBW for a duck with a ball that nipped back and beat his defensive push. The other opener Dom Sibley (16, 25 balls, 3X4) was the next to go, caught by Virat Kohli at leg-slip off Ashwin, which was given by the third umpire after India chose to review as the on-field umpire turned down the appeal for a catch.

The big wicket of captain Joe Root (6, 12 balls), who tormented the host bowlers in the first Test, was taken by debutant Axar Patel (1/9) when the England captain's attempted sweep against the turn landed safely in the hands of Ashwin at short fine-leg.

Earlier, India added 29 runs to their overnight score. The aggressive Pant scored 25 of those runs, hitting two fours and two sixes to remain unbeaten. For England, pacer Olly Stone finished with 3 for 47 in his first game in India.