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 visitors their heaviest defeat in the ‘Bazball’ era. With the series already in bag, India were playing for crucial World Test Championship points and England made their job simpler by self-imploding on day three.
England were bowled out for 195 towards the end of the afternoon session with Ashwin running through their reckless batting line-up to end with a match haul of nine wickets.
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. England’s second innings moved at a rather frenetic pace as the batters went on the offensive in their bid to survive against the Indian spinners but failed yet again.
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 their 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.