The writing was very much on the wall when Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Jake Ball on what turned out to be the final ball of the fourth day.
History beckoned for Virat Kohli’s men as the sub-continental giants were searching their first series win over England since 2008 when Sachin Tendulkar scored a magnificent ton to give the hosts a memorable win in Chennai and India went on to win the two-match series 1-0.
England were 182 for 6 after the end of Day 4, still trailing India’s first innings total by 49 runs and hosts wasted little time in dismissing the remaining England batsmen to win the match by an innings and 36 runs and clinch the Anthony De Mello trophy they lost in 2014. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been very instrumental in India’s good run in Test in the last one year and so, once again proved to be the trump card for the hosts as he took his second five-fer of the game and the 24th of his career, to help the team seal series within half-hour of the last day.
India started the proceedings in a dominant fashion when Jonny Bairstow, probably the only man who could have delayed India’s victory, failed to pick up a carrom ball from Ashwin and was plumb LBW in the very second over of the day. In his next over, the world No. 1 bowler castled Chris Woakes to leave the visitors reeling at 189 for 8, still needing 42 runs to make the hosts bat again. Adil Rashid soon followed Bairstow and Woakes when he played a reckless shot to give Ashwin his second five-fer in the match. Two runs later, James Anderson popped a catch at mid-wicket to give Virat Kohli’s men at the historic Wankhede stadium.
Meanwhile, it was only the third time in Test history that a team had lost by an innings even after posting 400 in the first innings. Just like the previous three Tests, Alastair Cook’s men failed to capitalise on the chances as after reducing the hosts to 306 for 6, they lacked the killer punch that allowed India to post 631 runs. Virat Kohli led the way with a monumental 235 and was very well supported by Jayant Yadav, who became the first Indian batsman to score a Test century at number nine.
The caravan now moves to Chennai where the final Test gets underway on December 16.
Meanwhile, there some ugly scenes were witnessed in the ground as Virat Kohli had an altercation with Anderson who had criticised the Indian batting star’s technique after the end of the fourth day’s play. With the matters getting out of hand, the umpires had to intervene to calm the players.
Watch the incident here:
https://twitter.com/eevinaymani/status/808169534183993344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw