England once again gave away a strong position to lose a third Test match on the bounce in their tour of India in Ranchi, with the series scoreline now 3-1 with one game to play in Dharamshala.
Despite Joe Root’s stunning century in the first innings of the test, in a fashion somewhat akin to a classic Root knock, India rallied back after an opening two days to complete a comprehensive victory to secure the series win.
Akash Deep’s eventful opening spell as an India player garnered three wickets his first seven overs, which included what would have been his maiden Test wicket as he got one through the gate of Zak Crawley’s defence off a no-ball.
Deep was quick in rectifying his mistake as he dismissed the England top three within the space of two overs as Ben Duckett edged behind with vice-captain Ollie Pope playing a wild shot as he was trapped LBW a couple balls into his innings.
Root, after large amounts of criticism with the way he batted in the third test, looked more assured and hardly played any sweeps or ramps as the situation at lunch was a dire one for the tourists at 112 for 5.
Ben Foakes joined Root after lunch and the pair combined to remain unbeaten in the afternoon session as they absorbed pressure from the hugely experienced and dangerous spin attack of India instead of countering the opposition in a forceful or egotistical manner, which the England side can portray sometimes under the leadership of Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
After reducing India to a similar position to what they were in the first innings, England could not get through wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel, in his second test, as he battled his way to earn a free-flowing 90 with the tail.
“Our wickets were falling, and I was batting with the lower order, but we got partnerships” said Jurel in the post-match presentation after his player of the match winning performance with the bat in both innings.
Shoaib Bashir, in his 20th professional game, picked up his first ever five wicket haul as the young Somerset spinner ripped through the Indian top order before Jurel marshalled the tail as they reduced the deficit to 46.
Despite being the kings of the third innings, England faltered again in this series as they lost their final seven wickets for 35 runs after being 110 for 3 at one stage.
Crawley was bowled by another great delivery as he tried to play back and push through the off-side as Kuldeep Yadav bowled him through the gate. Jonny Bairstow fell straight into a trap the first ball of the evening session of day three as he chipped Ravindra Jadeja to short cover.
Foakes, 17 off 76, was joined by second innings hero Bashir but the duo didn’t go anywhere as they added 12 runs in 12.2 overs, thinking that batting time would help the bowlers get wickets in clusters in the fourth innings.
Stokes was very complimentary of India’s spinners after the Test saying “yesterday (day three) with the bat was incredibly hard against Ashwin (picking up his 35th five wicket haul in Tests), Jadeja and Kuldeep, it was close to impossible.”
India captain Rohit Sharma was pleased with the way his side, especially the inexperienced players, performed with the usual star names being unavailable throughout.
“Very hard-fought series, a lot of challenges thrown at us, but we responded quite well. We have to give them [the young players] the environment they want to be in.”
With the series now won by India, the two sides have a week off before the final test of the series in the Himalayas in Dharamshala.
