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India handed Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum their first test series defeat as a captain-coach duo as they beat the England side by five wickets on Day 4 of the test match. A resilient partnership between Dhruv Jurel and Subhman Gill sealed the series with a victory at the JSCA stadium in Ranchi. India started the day on a good note, being 84 for no loss, but gradually lost 5 wickets within 36 runs, reminding the demons of Hyderabad, but the batters from their side batted beautifully, rotating strikes and getting aggressive when victory felt close.
The England spinners looked good but eventually lost the plot. Young spinner Shoaib Bashir again was excellent in this inning, notching 3 for 79, and Hartley looked a bit inconsistent today.
It was the youngsters who stepped up in the absence of important players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and KL Rahul to clinch the series. This series has been phenomenal for Yashasvi Jasiwal, who has scored 655 runs so far. He went level with Kohli’s record for the most runs in a Test Series against England.
Indian also found an answer to their search for a decent batting wicketkeeper, Dhruv Jurel, who narrowly missed out on a well-deserved debut fifity in Rajkot and then played an outstanding knock of 90 in India’s first innings to place India in a position to fight back. He doubled up with an unbeaten 39 in the final inning to guide India to victory.
Ravichandran Ashwin reached yet another milestone, becoming just the second player after Kumble to claim 350 test wickets on Indian soil. He also became the only Indian to claim 100 test wickets against two different opponents, achieving the feat against Australia and England.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma went past the 4000-run mark in his Test career with a fifty, becoming just the 17th Indian to reach this landmark. He also went past 9,000 runs in his first-class career. Kuldeep Yadav brought out the all-rounder in him, being impressive with both ball and bat. He formed a crucial 77-run stand with Jurel in India’s first inning, chipping in with a gritty 131-ball 28. With the bowl, he claimed four wickets as India bundled the England batters for 145 runs in the second innings.
Akash Deep made a mark in his debut by dismissing the top three batters of the England team within the first half-hour of day 1. Rajat Patidar would be very disappointed with his performance in this test, as he’s yet to score any significant runs with the bat. He’s likely to get another chance only if Rahul is not fit for the final test in Dharmshala.
