Ashwin’s fifer helps India thrash England by an innings in Dharamsala, win Test series 4-1

Ravichandran Ashwin celebrated his 100th Test appearance by collecting his 36th Test five-for as India bundled England out for 195 to win the fifth Test by an innings and 64 runs and complete a clinical 4-1 series victory.

Veteran off-spinner Ashwin accounted for the English top three after India lost their last two wickets in quick succession shortly after start of play to get bowled out for 477, and collect a 259-run first innings lead.

Ashwin, who completed a century of Test appearances alongside England’s Jonny Bairstow, would then castle England skipper Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes on either side of the lunch interval to complete his five-for. The Tamil Nadu bowler would, in the process, surpass legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble and become the Indian bowler with most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

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Had it not been for senior batter Joe Root’s superb 84 and Bairstow’s attacking 31-ball 39, England would have folded a lot more quickly and suffered a defeat by an even bigger margin. Root followed up on his gritty unbeaten 122 on a tough wicket in Ranchi with a sparkling knock at Dharamsala’s picturesque HPCA Stadium, collecting 10 boundaries during his stay at the crease to end.

The tour was proving to be a difficult one for Root especially when it came to adjusting to the ‘Bazball’ style of play but Root managed to sign off on a high by going back to the approach that made him one of the standout batters of the modern generation and one of England’s greatest of all time.

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Root later became the last English batter to fall, holing out to Jasprit Bumrah at long on while trying to smash left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav for a six. James Anderson, who had collected a historic 700th Test wicket earlier in the day, remained unbeaten on nought after facing five deliveries.

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Vice-captain and pace spearhead Bumrah took over captaincy duties during England’s second innings after regular skipper Rohit Sharma failed to turn up on the field on the third day. According to the BCCI, the ‘Hitman’ remained confined to the dressing room due to a “stiff back”.

Rude reality check for ‘Bazball’

With the series already in bag, India were playing for crucial World Test Championship points and England made their job simpler by self-imploding on day three.

England were bowled out for 195 towards the end of the afternoon session with Ashwin running through their reckless batting line-up to end with a match haul of nine wickets. Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged player of the match though for a haul of seven wickets, including the fifer in the first essay.

“When you win a Test like this, everything has to fall in place…The way bowlers took responsibility was pleasing to see,” said an elated India captain Rohit Sharma.

England’s second innings moved at a rather frenetic pace as the batters went on the offensive in their bid to survive against the Indian spinners but failed yet again.

The game appeared to be going only one way when India took a huge 259-run first innings lead in the morning session by posting 477 all out in response to England’s 218 on day one.

Ahead of the final game of their long tour, Stokes had dismissed theories of the departure lounge syndrome but with the way his batters performed, it seemed they were in a hurry to get back home.

“We have been outplayed by the better team of the series…When you look at the series as a whole, in those small moments we haven’t been able to keep it going,” he admitted at the end of a humbling outing.

The attack-at-all-costs approach clearly did not work for them in India and the debacle has given them plenty to ponder before the start of the English summer.

For India, the series was a remarkable success considering they had the likes of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami unavailable throughout.

The youngsters, led by Yashasvi Jaiswal, grabbed the opportunities in the seniors’ absence to give the team management more options for the future.

The writing was on the wall after Ashwin ran through England’s self destructing top-order to leave them reeling at 103 for five at lunch.

England skipper Stokes (2) cut a sorry figure after falling to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch with a straighter one.

Ashwin once again got the better of England opener Ben Duckett (2). The southpaw, who had struggled to defend against Ashwin in the previous games, charged down the wicket for a counter-attacking hit but was nowhere near the pitch of the ball, resulting in a bowled dismissal.

Ashwin had a leg slip in place for Zak Crawley (0) with the pitch offering a fair amount of turn and bounce.

The England opener got an inside edge on to the pads and deflected straight into the hands of Sarfaraz Khan at leg-slip

Ollie Pope (19), who is a tentative starter, was Ashwin’s third victim. It was an error in judgement again from an England batter as he went for an audacious sweep off a delivery that went straight with the arm and was also on the shorter side.

Bairstow (39 off 31), also playing his 100th Test like Ashwin, joined Root in the middle and went on the offensive from the word go.

Playing with the spin, Bairstow hammered three thundering sixes off Ashwin on the on-side before being adjudged lbw off Kuldeep. It was another boom and bust knock that Bairstow played in the series.

He exchanged a few words with Shubman Gill stationed at first slip and lost his concentration in the process.

Not confident of defending against Ashwin and Co., England continued to use the long handle after lunch and failed miserably.

Foakes went for a wild slog sweep off Ashwin only to miss the ball completely, giving India’s premier spinner his 36th five-wicket haul in Tests.

Bumrah’s fiery spell in the afternoon got him wickets of Tom Hartley and Mark Wood, putting India on the cusp of a massive win.

With their clinical victory in Dharamsala, where they have now won two-in-two after their eight-wicket thrashing of Australia in 2017, India have maintained their Test dominance on home soil and extended their unbeaten run that has lasted for more than decade now.

England, on the, other hand, have suffered their first series defeat since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and head coach respectively specifically for the Test format, and the sound thrashing in India despite going 1-0 with a stunning victory in Hyderabad will force them to go back to the drawing board when they fly back home.

Brief scores:

England 218 and 195 in 48.1 overs (Joe Root 84, Jonny Bairstow 39; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/77) lost to India 477 in 124.1 (Rohit Sharma 103, Shubman Gill 110, Devdutt Padikkal 65; Shoaib Bashir 5/173) by an innings and 64 runs.

_With PTI inputs
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