It took India 48.1 overs to bowl England out in their second innings and win the Test by an innings and 64 runs in less than three days to win the series 4-1.
For England, the day started with James Anderson etching his name on the history books by becoming the first pacer to claim 700 Test wickets but it didn’t take long for the celebrations to vanish. About four hours to be precise. Some would even say less than that as the writing was on the wall once India’s spinners, led by Ravichandran Ashwin got England five down at the Lunch break on Day 3 of the fifth Testin Dharamsala. It took India 48.1 overs to bowl England out in their second innings and win the Test match by an innings and 64 runs in less than three days to win the series 4-1.
An Indian series victory was questionable, let alone with a 4-1 scoreline, after the first Test. England’s bazballers had rewritten the record books by beating India in the series opener in Hyderabad despite conceding a 190-run lead in the first innings.
India were missing Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant. Virat Kohli too was out of the series due to personal reasons. Injuries kept plugging away. KL Rahul hurt his quadriceps in the first Test and never returned in the series. Ravindra Jadeja missed the second Test due to a hamstring injury. Ravichandran Ashwin had to fly back home in the middle of the third Test to attend to his ailing mother. Ben Stokes’ hyper-active captaincy was making Rohit Sharma’s calm and collective demeanour appear laid back, even bereft of ideas at times.
But Rohit fought back and so did India. He found heroes in every Test – Jasprit Bumrah in Vizag, he himself and Jadeja in Rajkot, young Dhurv Jurel in Ranchi, Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav here. And, dare we say, Yashasvi Jaiswal throughout the series with a record-breaking 712 runs in five Tests.
Ashwin breaks records on 100th Test
Coming back to what transpired on Saturday in Dharamsala, it didn’t take long for England to take the final two England wickets but the 259-run lead was always going to be a huge mountain to climb.
England’s second innings moved at a rather frenetic pace as the batters mainly resorted to attacking the Indian spinners in their bid to survive but failed yet again.
England skipper Ben Stokes (2) cut a sorry figure after falling to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch with a straighter one.
He exchanged a few words with Shubman Gill stationed at first slip and lost his concentration in the process.
With Rohit Sharma not taking the field due to a stiff back, Bumrah led the side in the middle besides opening the bowling alondside Ashwin.
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Playing his 100th Test, Ashwin once again got the better of England opener Ben Duckett (2). The southpaw, who had struggled defending against Ashwin in the previous games, charged down the wicket for a counter-attacking hit but was no near to the pitch of the ball, resulting in a bowled dismissal.
Ashwin had 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.
Jonny Bairstow (39 off 31), who is also playing his 100th Test, joined Joe Root in the middle and went on the offensive from the get go.
Playing with the spin, Bairstow hammered three thundering sixes off Ashwin on the on side before being adjudged lbw off Kuldeep Yadav. It was another boom-and-bust knock that Bairstow played in the series. He exchanged a few words with Shubman Gill stationed at first slip and lost his concentration in the process.
In the post-lunch session, Ashwin dismissed Ben Fokes to complete his 36th five-wicket haul – the most by an Indian. It was then Jasprit Bumrah’s turn to show his magic. He bowled two thunderbolts to send back Tom Hartley and Mark Wood. Jadeja ended Shoaib Bashir’s residence with a beauty.
Root, who was the only England batter who tried to take his time and play the situation, was the last wicket to fall when he made a desperate attempt to reach his century.
