Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin cleans up Ben Stokes with a magical delivery
Ravichandran Ashwin produced a magical delivery to castle Ben Stokes on Day 2 of the second Test in Chennai on Sunday.
Batting on 18, Ben Stokes looked the most comfortable of English batsmen against the Indian spinners. However, a well-laid setup by Ravichandran Ashwin followed by a crackerjack of a delivery brought an end to his innings.
Bowling from round the wicket to the left-hander, Ravichandran Ashwin pushed Stokes on the back-foot with a good-length delivery to start the 24th over. He drifted the next ball onto the middle-stump from a high-arm angle.
Stokes tried to whip the ball to the leg side, but it kicked up viciously from the turf to disturb the off stump. The England all-rounder was furious with himself for the error in judgement, but there was nothing much he could have done on that occasion. Here's the video of Ben Stokes' dismissal:
It marked Ravichandran Ashwin's 266th Test wicket on home soil. The 34-year-old is now India's second-highest wicket-taker at home, only behind Anil Kumble who has 350.
Ravichandran Ashwin tears through the England top order
With the wicket of Ben Stokes, Ravichandran Ashwin has accounted for three of England's top-5 batsmen. He opened his account with the wicket of opener Dom Sibley (16).
In a bid to unsettle Ravichandran Ashwin, Sibley went for an expansive sweep shot in the eighth over of the English innings. However, the ball kicked up from the rough and caught the edge of the back of Sibley's bat en route to Virat Kohli at leg-slip.
England number three, Dan Lawrence, was Ravichandran Ashwin's next victim. On the stroke of lunch, Ashwin bowled a classic off-spinner on a short-of-a-good length. The off-spinner's slow pace lured the batsman into a forward defensive stroke, but the ball bounced and lobbed to short-leg to reduce England to 39/4.
Ishant Sharma and Axar Patel were also among the wickets in the first session on Day 2. While Sharma accounted for Rory Burns for a duck, Patel got the biggest fish in the opposition, Joe Root for just six runs, for his first Test wicket.
Reduced to 52/5 at the fall of Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope and the returning Ben Foakes have managed to keep the Indian bowlers at bay for more than 14 overs.
However, with the pitch crumbling and exhibiting uneven bounce, India will fancy their chances of eking out a significant first-innings lead.