MUMBAI: India’s ploy to prepare a spinning track backfired heavily as a spirited England inflicted a humiliating ten-wicket victory on the clueless hosts in the second cricket Test to level the four-match series 1-1.

Resuming at a precarious 117 for seven after conceding a vital 86-run first innings lead, the Indians were skittled out for a paltry 141 within an hour’s play on the fourth morning, leaving the visitors an easy target of 57 for victory, which they achieved without much fuss with more than five sessions to spare.

Only Gautam Gambhir (65) provided a semblance of resistance before being the last man to be dismissed though television replays indicated that he was distinctly unlucky to be ruled out.

Spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, building on the towering platform left by Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen’s first innings centuries, swept through India’s batting lineup once again. The duo ended the match with 19 wickets, and Panesar was singled out by Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the main difference between the two teams.

English batsmen are meant to struggle against spin in this part of the world, not Indians. But in the second innings, only Gautam Gambhir made any headway with his 65 runs. The second highest scorer was Ravichandran Ashwin, with 11, as India was bowled out for 142. Cook and Nick Compton raced to the 57-run target with ease.

India had gone into the match on a high after wiping England out with a nine-wicket victory in Ahmedabad. That defeat left the English scratching their heads and looking down the barrel at another rough tour of India, where they haven’t won a Test series since 1985. But India is the team facing tough questions now, not least what to do with misfiring senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar and captain Dhoni.

In his three innings of the series so far, Dhoni has scored 5, 29 and 6. He bats low, at number 7, so doesn’t always get the opportunity for big scores, but this latest Test in Mumbai offered him the chance to build an innings. He didn’t seize the opportunity to prove his doubters wrong.

The Indian captain had a good series with the bat against New Zealand in August, scoring 73, 62 and 48 not out, but in the series before that, against Australia, he also struggled, notwithstanding a solitary half-century in Sydney.

A bigger doubt hangs over Tendulkar. Though it’s almost sacrilege to question his place in the side, Indian cricket fans are growing impatient with the Little Master. It’s highly unlikely that any of his teammates would want to see him dropped, but the longer it takes for Tendulkar to get a big score, the less tenable his place in the team becomes.

But perhaps now is not the time for knee jerk reactions, especially as the series is so deliciously poised. England looked dead and buried after the first Test but bounced back in style in Mumbai, thanks to a couple of tweaks to the lineup. Panesar made the most of his selection, to say the least. He took five wickets in the first innings and six in the second, one of the very best performances by a visiting bowler in India. Another day he would have been named Man-of-the-Match, but that honor went to Pietersen for his 186 in the first innings, the highest score by an England batsman at Wankhede Stadium.

For India, Cheteshwar Pujara carried his sparkling form into this match, scoring 135 in the first innings, but then falling for just six in the second. Pragyan Ojha was again the pick of the bowlers, taking five wickets in England’s first innings.

England rallied after the first Test. The question is, can India do the same for the third, which takes place at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens from Dec. 5-9.

Dhoni said yesterday that the next match is a Test of character for his team. That is what Test cricket is all about. England showed the greater strength of character in this match, epitomized by the larger than life personalities of Panesar and Pietersen. The latter was evidently in party mood following the win, writing on Twitter, “Test wins have to be celebrated! Mumbai is gonna get it tonight!”