RESOUNDING WIN
India makes it 4-1 with crushing innings victory in Dharamsala
DHARAMSALA: Ravichandran Ashwin took a famous five-wicket haul in his 100th Test as India thrived on the impatience of England batters for an emphatic innings and 64-run victory in the final chapter of an action-packed five-match contest, handing the visitor its heaviest defeat in the ‘Bazball’ era.
With the series already in bag, India was playing for crucial World Test Championship points and England made its job simpler by self-imploding on day three here.
England was bowled out for 195 towards the end of the afternoon session with Ashwin running through its reckless batting line-up to end with a match haul of nine wickets. Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged player of the match though for a haul of seven wickets, including the fifer in the first essay.
Joe Root was the lone ranger for his team and batted beautifully for his 84 off 128 balls. He was the last batter to be dismissed.
The game appeared to be going only one way when India took a huge 259-run first innings lead in the morning session by posting 477 all out in response to England’s 218 on day one.
Ahead of the final game of its long tour, Stokes had dismissed theories of the departure lounge syndrome but with the way his batters performed, it seemed they were in a hurry to get back home.
The attack at all costs approach clearly did not work for them in India and the debacle has given them plenty to ponder before the start of the English summer.
For India, the series was a remarkable success considering they had the likes of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami unavailable throughout.
The youngsters, led by Yashasvi Jaiswal, grabbed the opportunities in the seniors’ absence to give the team management more options for the future. The writing was on the wall after Ashwin ran through England’s self destructing top-order to leave it reeling at 103 for five at lunch.
England skipper Ben Stokes (2) cut a sorry figure after falling to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch with a straighter one. With Rohit not taking the field due to a stiff back, Bumrah led the side in the middle besides opening the bowling alongside Ashwin.
Ashwin once again got the better of England opener Ben Duckett (2). The southpaw, who had struggled to defend against Ashwin in the previous games, charged down the wicket for a counter-attacking hit but was nowhere near the pitch of the ball, resulting in a bowled dismissal.
Ashwin had a leg slip in place for Zak Crawley (0) with the pitch offering a fair amount of turn and bounce.
The England opener got an inside edge on to the pads and deflected straight into the hands of Sarfaraz Khan at leg-slip. Ollie Pope (19), who is a tentative starter, was Ashwin’s third victim. It was an error in judgement again from an England batter as he went for an audacious sweep off a delivery that went straight with the arm and was also on the shorter side.
BRIEF SCORES: England 218 & 195 in 48.1 overs (J Root 84, R Ashwin 5/77) lost to India 477