Humiliating loss exposes lack of quality to cope with conditions

GONE: Jonny Bairstow is bowled by Axar Patel without scoring

JOE ROOT put on his bravest face and proceeded to take all the slings and arrows that come with a 10-wicket hammering.

After all, his team had just been dispatched inside two days, failed to score 200 runs in total in the match and needed to rely on the success of a part-time spinner to briefly get themselves back in the game.

For all the inevitable reasons, excuses, mitigating circumstances and creative accountancy that could be used to explain away the defeat, there is an unavoidable truth.

India have utterly outskilled and out-played England in both of the past two Test matches in their home conditions, just a matter of days after doing the same to Australia in theirs.

After one session in Ahmedabad, things had looked very different for the tourists, when a hot streak of seven for 31 enabled them to dismiss India for 145.

It had taken a staggering haul of five for eight from Root’s part-time spin to create some optimism, but the same conditions that had turned the skipper’s occasional off-breaks into unplayable hand grenades soon left England batsmen on the canvas at 81 all out. In a mad start to their second innings, Root saw Crawley – first ball – and Jonny Bairstow – two balls later – fall to Axar Patel, who went on to take five for 32 to finish with a match haul of 11, with Ravichandran Ashwin, left, bagging four, including his magical 400th. Ashwin became the second fastest bowler to reach that milestone, behind Muttiah Muralitharan.

Left needing just 49 to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series, Rohit charged for the line and ended things with a booming six off Root, whose side have now failed to qualify for the World Test Championship final. On a dry and rapidly deteriorating surface, England were well short on the skill