Ashwin stars as dominant India decimate England

R 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. In the 100th Test, the off-spinner became the fourth bowler to score a fifer and tied Muttiah Murulitharan for most wickets in the iconic Test – 9. Joe Root (84) was the only England batter to show resolve in the second innings and he was largely faultless at the crease, before running out of partners at the opposite 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. Mark Wood LBW was supplied with a similar nut by India’s vice captain in the same over. 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. England’s batting again fell short, much like in the first innings.

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. Sadly for them, this wasn’t to be. With his guile, Ashwin cut through the top-order and made England’s batters play with indecisiveness. 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. Although England bravely chose to bat in seamer-friendly conditions it soon became clear that it was the right move. The pitch began to play true after the morning session, enabling batters to hit their shots. Spinners who were willing to be accurate could still find a little hold in there – Kuldeep was one of them. 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. Unpardonable was the loss of six wickets in 37 balls by the visitors on a fine batting surface. Ashwin cleaned up the lower order to score a four-fer early in the first innings and maintained that momentum into the second innings, bowling close to his best of 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). At a time when England hoped to extend their lead with ball reversal, the pair came out with a counterpunch mentality. 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. The bowling attack of the visitors was exposed throughout the series, as was their confused batting strategy. On a sporting Dharamsala surface, India were just too hot to handle.

Brief scores: England218 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

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