Sky247 Staff
India were too hot to handle for England as they bowed down to the hosts in a humiliating inning and 25 run loss in the final Test. After a dismal performance in the first test in Chennai, Virat Kohli’s men pulled their sleeves and went on a juggernaut, mauling the visitors game after game, winning the 4 match series 3-1. The win has also taken India to the final of the World Test Championship where they will face New Zealand at Lords, in June.
England would be very disappointed with their performance and had no answers to the Indian spinner, who at times, looked unplayable. They were not happy with the pitches in the previous two tests but the pitch in the fourth test was a brilliant wicket. England will rue the fact that they couldn’t score much in the first inning after winning the toss and opting to bat. The credit, however, must be given to the Indian bowlers, who didn’t allow the England batsmen to get off their hook. Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin were the main destroyers and shared 7 wickets between them.
205 in the first inning wasn’t going to be enough but England were decent with the ball and at one point, at 146-6, had India under serious pressure but a master innings from Rishabh Pant turned the tides in favour of the hosts. Washington Sunder too carried on his golden run with the bat and stroked an unbeaten 96 to bat England out of the game. He ran out of partners and fell agonizingly short of a brilliant hundred.
A 160 run lead was always going to test England, who showed little resistance and were bundled out for 135 in the second innings, losing the match by an innings and 45 runs. Once again the duo of Ashwin and Axar became their nemeses and picked up 5 wickets each. Both teams will now clash in the 5 match T20 series that’ll be followed by the 3 match ODI series.
