Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
India defeated England in the fourth test cricket match in Ranchi by five wickets on Monday leading 3-1 in the five match home test series. India opened the series with a defeat but staged a comeback to win three consecutive matches to clinch the series victory. This came as the first series defeat to the England test team under the duo of Coach Brendon McCullum and Captain Ben Stokes with India extending their record of winning 17th consecutive test series at home.
The match opened with a century from the England veteran Joe Root which aided in setting up a fighting total for the England team. The Indian team fought back with a 90 run-stand from the youngster Dhruv Jurel which was followed by a commendable bowling performance from the Indian spinners who claimed all 10 of the English wickets for merely 145 in the second innings. Ravichandran Ashwain starred in the innings by picking a five-wicket haul. India started off boldly owing to Rohit Sharma and Yashwaswi Jaiswal’s opening stand but the team slightly crumbled before lunch with the England spinners weaving their web over the Indian batters. Shubman Gill played a crucial and sensible knock respecting the conditions to guide India to victory with support from Dhruv Jurel.
This test series was termed a tough one for the Indian team to find answers to the Bazball brand of test cricket with the team being devoid of several senior players such as Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami. The Indian team also lacked the services of Jasprit Bumrah for this final test who was rested. The hosts decisively outplayed the visitors while stamping several records and milestones along the way both as a team and individually. The team registered the record for hitting the most sixes in a test series in only the third match of the series with Yashaswasi Jaiswal claiming Rohit Sharma’s record for most sixes by an Indian in a test series. Ravichandran Ashwin claimed his 500th wicket in Test cricket in the third test in Rajkot becoming the second Indian bowler and ninth overall to achieve this milestone. He also surpassed Anil Kumble to become the bowler with most wickets in India. The fourth test which sealed the series victory for India was the first 150 plus target chase in the fourth innings at home since 2014.
The fifth and final test match of the series will be held in Dharamsala from 7th to 11th March which will also be the 100th test match for the Indian spin maestro, Ravichandran Ashwin.