England claimed all 10 Indian wickets on the 4th day of the 4th Test to ensure they took victory and an unassailable 3-1 lead in this 5 match series. Chasing 245 to win the match, India looked well in the game following a century stand between captain Virat Kohli and Ajinka Rahane but once the former was dismissed by the impressive Moeen Ali, the remaining 6 wickets were only able to contribute 61 more runs as India fell 60 short of their target.
Analysis of the Day's Play
England lost Stuart Broad to the 1st ball of the day and then had Sam Curran run out for 46 as they only managed to add 11 runs to their over night score. It was a disappointing end to England's innings and on another day they might have been made to pay for giving away their wickets so cheaply. Batting on a wearing pitch is tough enough without giving the opposition 2 freebie run outs of batsmen who are well set. Despite the series victory, England have a lot of work to do particularly in regards their batting if they want to improve their consistency of results. A full review of this series as well as a preview towards the tour of Sri Lanka and the West Indies will follow at some point in the next couple of weeks.
Where England can be very pleased is with their bowling today. I thought it was the best overall bowling performance of the entire series from England. While they demolished India at Lord's, it was achieved in very helpful conditions, whereas, the 10 wickets they took today required discipline, accuracy and tactical awareness. I had been critical in my preview of the game in the way Anderson & Broad had bowled in the 3rd Test and I wasn't overly impressed with them in the early stages of the 1st innings of this game. However, they got it right today when England needed them most and between them they accounted for India's top 3.
KL Rahul was the first to go after he got an unplayable delivery from Broad that kept low and knocked his off-stump out of the ground. It was clear in the first couple of days play that the ball was leaving indentation marks in the pitch which have hardened out over days 3 & 4. I can only assume that the ball hit one of those old marks, causing it to shoot along the deck. England and in particular Keaton Jennings will say that fair's fair after he got dismissed by a similar ball yesterday. Pujara then follwed LBW to Anderson and Dhawan, having played a couple of attacking shots soon followed him back to the Pavillion too. With India 22-3, Anderson and Broad charging in and the home crowd right behind their team it looked as though England would stroll to victory.
However, as has so often been the case in these 4 games the major obstacle for England to overcome was still at the crease. Virat Kohli, the champion batsman and heartbeat of this India side once more stood tall when his country needed him. He mixed skill with some sizeable good fortune after England wrongly had an LBW review denied against him. The moment came when Moeen Ali got a ball to spin past the inside edge of Kohli's bat and hit his pad adjacent to the stumps. England's appeal was denied but so confident was Moeen Ali that he had got his man that Joe Root sent the decision to the 3rd umpire to check. While there was a noise as the ball passed the bat it looked as though there was a gap between the 2 with UltraEdge perhaps picking up the sound of bat brushing pad. Had Kohli gone on to make a match winning century England might well have felt aggrieved but as it was the decision didn't cost them.
Moeen finally did get his man, caught at short-leg, to end a partnership of 101 and swing the game right back in England's favour. England's lower order of Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes have all played major parts in setting competitive totals for England this summer but for India it has been a struggle. Hardik Pandya was promoted to 6 in this innings but in all honestly he does not yet look like he is capable of playing the kind of Test Match innings that will be required at that position. Having had such a big impact with the ball at Trent Bridge, Pandya has made very little contribution to this match. In part that was a result of his captain's unwillingness to bowl him but as a genuine international all-rounder, you must be able to find a way to influence the game. A similar critique could be made of young Pant who is struggling to find a tempo that is suitable for Test match cricket. The block, block, slog method may work in the IPL but in a Test Match a player needs to be able to adapt to the conditions and bowler in front of him. Pant is still young and he will need time invested in him to mature into the kind of player Jos Buttler is becoming for England.
When India's last hope, Ajinka Rahane became Moeen Ali's 3rd victim then the writing was really on the wall for India. Moeen who endured a torrid winter in Australia has worked hard to regain his place in the team and continued an interesting trend in this series of England players making an impact on their return to the side. It started with Sam Curran who helped England to victory in the first game and who despite missing the 3rd match has played a major role in this series win. I very much doubt if many of India's players had heard of him prior to the series and those that had would have been unlikely to anticipate him being one of England's most potent weapons this summer. Similarly Chris Woakes return to the side in the 2nd Test helped inspire the team to an innings win at Lord's. England seemed to have had the knack for picking the right player at the right time.
Credit today must also go to Joe Root who put in a very mature performance as captain. He set good fields with the right balance of attack and defence, he marshalled his bowling resources well and even when Kohli and Rahane were going well he never looked panicked and instead encouraged his side to keep the faith that a break through would eventually come. In that respect Root has outplayed Kohli in this Test. It has been a series of fine margins and what ifs for India but while their captain has been magnificent with the bat you feel he still has a lot to learn as a leader in the field. Again there is probably scope for a full blog on Virat Kohli in this series as the captain who won every battle but ultimately lost the war - I will save my full analysis for another time.
It is a shame such a magnificent series will finish with a dead rubber at the Oval next week but we will see if India can return from this defeat to add some respectability to the scoreline and lay down a marker for future games in England.
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