Ashwin stars as dominant India decimate England

avichandran  Ashwin’s 36th five-wicket haul (5-77) in Tests led India’s clinical bowling display on the third day of the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala, powering the hosts to a mammoth victory margin of an innings and 64 runs. The off-spinner became only the fourth bowler in history to achieve a fifer in the 100th Test and ended the game level with Muttiah Muralitharan for the most wickets in the landmark Test – 9. Joe Root (84) was the only England batter in the second innings to show resolve and he looked largely flawless at the crease, only to run out of partners at the other end.

Tom Hartley promised to dig in for a bit with Root before the former was taken out by a Jasprit Bumrah special to be trapped LBW. In the same over, India’s vice-captain produced a similar nut to get Mark Wood LBW. Shoaib Bashir, though, dug in for a while to support Root’s quest for a ton and the partnership stretched the game deep into the session. However, a cracker from Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up Bashir, leaving Root with no choice but to take the bowling on. In the process, he perished to long-on, to give India a crushing win. Much like in the first innings, England’s batting once again came a cropper.

After James Anderson’s landmark 700th scalp in the morning session had hastened the end of India’s innings, the onus was on England to put up a strong fight to sign off the tour. Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t to be. Ashwin sliced through the top-order with his guile, forcing England’s batters to play with indecision. Jonny Bairstow (39 off 31) threatened to provide some entertainment but as was the case in the first innings, his fun was cut short by Kuldeep Yadav as soon as the wrist spinner was brought on. When Stokes fell to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch, it was a dismissal that summed up England’s fortunes in the series.

If Ashwin sealed the game on day three, the victory was set up by Kuldeep’s brilliance (5-72) on day one. While England’s decision to bat under seamer-friendly conditions was a brave one, it was soon evident that it was the right call. After the morning session, the pitch started to play true, allowing batters to play their shots. However, there was just a bit of hold in there for spinners if they were willing to be accurate, and Kuldeep was just that. It also helped that he had a bag of tricks to which England had no answer to. Right through the series, the 29-year-old had dented the visitors with his repertoire and Dharamsala was no different.

Zak Crawley (79) showed that runs were there to be made but his dismissal also showed how good Kuldeep was in the first innings. The visitors lost six wickets in just 37 balls and on a good batting surface, that was unpardonable. Ashwin duly mopped up the lower order to end with a four-fer in the first innings, and that momentum was carried on by the veteran into the second innings when he bowled close to his best in the series. India’s batters didn’t make the mistake of their counterparts and feasted on the surface by piling on the runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed a fifty, going past 700 runs in the series as well but couldn’t kick on.

However, the momentum he gave set up Rohit Sharma (103) and Shubman Gill (110) to notch up their respective second tons of the series. Their 171-run stand flattened England as runs came at a brisk pace with boundaries. Both took the spinners to the cleaners and Stokes’ unorthodox plans with the field sets also didn’t work. Rohit feasted on anything short and wide on either side of the wicket while Shubman Gill’s footwork against spin was a delight to watch. England did remove the set batters in succession through Stokes’ magic ball – his first of the series – to remove the Indian captain. Anderson then removed Gill but India refused to put their foot off the pedal.

The visitors then had to contend with fifties from Devdutt Padikkal (65) and Sarfaraz Khan (56). The duo came out with a counterpunch mentality at a time when England were hoping to make further inroads with the ball reversing. Both had their moments of fortune but also displayed tremendous bravado through testing spells. Even Kuldeep (30) himself was involved in a 49-run stand with Bumrah (20) as India’s batters blunted England’s venomless bowling attack to the core. Bashir (5-173) ended with a fifer and while he did bowl well in parts, the inexperience showed.

England’s moments to remember in the game were Anderson’s milestone and Stokes’ ripper to Sharma. Across the series, the visitors’ bowling attack got found out and so did their muddled batting approach. On a sporting Dharamsala surface, India were just too hot to handle.

Brief scores:
England 218 and 195 (Joe Root 84; Ashwin 5-77) lost to  India 477 (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Devdutt Padikkal 65; Shoaib Bashir 5-173) by an innings and 64 runs