Thrice as nice

Team India defeat England by an innings and 25 runs to win series 3-1 and seal World Test Championship final spot; offie R Ashwin says victory is testament to good work as a unit

Fourth and final Test done and dusted in three days. The majority of wickets claimed by spinners. Series won 3-1 and World Test Championship final spot sealed. All that Team India set out to do in the Test series against England was achieved with an emphatic victory by an innings and 25 runs on Saturday to emerge numero uno in the world Test rankings.

As head coach Ravi Shastri put it, “India were irrepressible in Australia and even in this series.” After Rishabh Pant’s courageous 101 on Day Two on Friday, Washington Sundar, who was stranded on 96, and Axar Patel (43) helped the hosts post 365, taking a 160-run lead.

England succumbed to R Ashwin (5-47) and Patel (5-48) and were bowled out for 135. England’s batting never showed the spark, barring Daniel Lawrence, who struck a half century and skipper Joe Root’s 30 in the second innings.

India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin

Although India dominated the show with Sundar and Patel bringing up India’s second 100-plus stand of the innings, and the hosts taking a handsome lead, one could feel for Sundar, who stood emotionless after being stranded on 96 due to lack of support from the other end.

Sundar misses maiden ton

The Tamil Nadu youngster was unperturbed on missing his maiden Test ton, but Ashwin was confident his statemate will surely get his three-figure score soon. “It’s quite surprising that people don’t recognise that he grew up as a batsman who could bowl. I am not surprised at all because I have batted with him. He works hard on his batting and we have discussions around how he should look to bowl more often. He loves his batting and he is quite a special batsman,” said Ashwin at the post-match press briefing.

Ashwin, who bagged the Man of the Series award for his 32 wickets and 189 runs, felt that this is one of the best phases of his career. “What really has made the difference is the confidence the team management has put in me. I didn’t go to Australia, thinking I will start. Jadeja’s injury—obviously it wasn’t a good thing—but Ravi bhai [Shastri] and Virat [Kohli] gave me confidence. This is one of the best runs in my career.  

‘I like to keep growing’

“My growth as a cricketer is a direct synonym to the person I am. I like to keep growing every single day, I want to improve, so that is directly proportionate to the cricketer I am and I will continue to be the best I can be,” he said.

The pitches have been a point of debate in the series, especially for the rank-turners during the second Test at Chennai and the third day-night Test at Motera. When asked whether the series victory is an apt reply to the pitch critics, Ashwin said: “This series win is testament to the fact that this is a very good Indian cricket team.

“I would like to see one day, when there is a lot of grass on the pitch somewhere else in the world, our Indian commentators talking about it and then putting an Instagram post. I would like to see that and how the global media reacts to that. Then we will know who is at fault,” he said.

Brief scores
England 205 & 135 (D Lawrence 50, J Root 30; R Ashwin 5-47, Axar Patel 5-48) lost to India 365 (R Pant 101, W Sundar 96*, R Sharma 49, A Patel 43; B Stokes 4-89 J Anderson 3-44, J Leach 2-89) by an innings and 25 runs

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