Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin and Axar Patel starred for India as Virat Kohli’s men thumped England by an innings and 25 runs inside three days to complete a 3-1 series victory in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The final Test between India and England saw a number of records including India’s 13th consecutive Test series victory at home and Axar Patel’s fourth five-wicket haul in the debut series. India’s spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin wreaked havoc, taking all 10 wickets between them as Joe Root’s men were bowled out for 135 with more than two days to spare in the match.
India needed just a draw to reach the WTC final but a victory means they qualified for the summit clash in the top spot with 490 points. India registered 12 wins from 17 Tests, lost 4 and drew just 1 Test in the competition.
Spinner continued to rule the roost in the final innings as well – both R Ashwin and Axar Patel bagged five-fors. Indian spinners made an immediate impact and pushed the visitors on the back foot with 6 wickets in a single session. Root scored 30 off 72 while Jonny Bairstow failed to open his account. Ben Stokes (2), Zak Crawley (5), Dominic Sibley (3), and Ollie Pope (15) were others who failed the spin test.
Dan Lawrence, who walked to bat at 7, was the only batsmen to touch the 50-run mark. The right-handed batsman delayed the defeat by batting for 95 balls. He, along with Ben Foakes (13 off 46), showed some resistance as the duo batted together for 18 overs for 44 runs for the 7th wicket. England lost the next 3 wickets in the next 11.4 overs and were bundled out for 135.
Earlier in the day, India added 71 runs to their overnight total of 294/7 and finished at 365. Washington Sundar once again missed out on a well-deserved century as he ran out of partners at the other end. The 21-year-old remained unbeaten on 96 off 174.
With a win in the 4th Test, India finished the series with a 3-1 win. Their only defeat came in the opening Test, where England batted for 190.1 overs in the first innings. It’s Team India’s second consecutive Test series win over England at home. The two teams are also slated to play 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs.
The Virat Kohli-led side will be facing Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in the summit clash at Lord’s in June.
Here are all the major statistics from the series finale between India and England
12: India (12*) have now recorded the most wins in the ICC World Test Championship and qualified for the final.
409: Ashwin (409) surpassed Curtly Ambrose’s record of 405 Test wickets. Ashwin (80) also eclipsed Bishan Singh Bedi and Kapil Dev (85 each) to become the third-highest wicket-taker for India against England (Tests).
36: With the victory over England in the final Test, Virat Kohli (36) equaled the wins tally of Sir Clive Lloyd (36) as Test captain.
27: Axar Patel equaled Dilip Doshi’s 40-year-old record of taking 27 wickets with the fourth five-wicket haul in his debut series.
1,000: Rohit Sharma became the first-ever opener in the world to cross the 1000-run mark in the ICC World Test Championship. Overall, Rohit is the sixth batsman to score 1000 runs in WTC and second Indian cricketer to achieve this elusive feat.
