Ashwin and Axar seal stunning series victory for India

Ashwin and Axar seal stunning series victory for India

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India won the fourth test by an innings and 25 runs to wrap up the series victory in style in Ahmedabad. It was another comprehensive win for the hosts as the English batsmen once again had no answers to the Indian spinners and were bowled out for only 135 on the final day of the series. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel shared the spoils in the final innings with both of them picking five wickets apiece. Ashwin’s performances with the ball and bat throughout the series won him the man of the series award while Axar Patel’s 27 wickets in the series is the most by an Indian on debut.

The day started with a fine partnership between Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. They both made batting look easy as they continued to work the gaps and find the boundaries against a weary English attack. Washington Sundar looked dead set to reach his maiden Test century but was stranded on 96* in the most unfortunate manner. Axar Patel was run out completely against the run of play before Ben Stokes cleaned up tail-enders Ishant Sharma and Siraj in the very next over to leave Sundar marooned at the other end just four runs away from his century.

While Axar and Sundar made batting look easy on the Day 3 pitch, the English batsman still seemed to be suffering from the scars of the previous two tests. It took just 4 overs for India to make the early inroads with Ravichandran Ashwin picking up two wickets off consecutive deliveries. He set up Zak Crawley with the straighter one that took the outside edge to slip before Jonny Bairstow could only edge a delivery off his pads straight into the hands-off leg-slip. This was Bairstow’s 3rd duck in four innings this series and his 6th duck in his last nine innings against India.

Dominic Sibley and Ben Stokes didn’t last too long either and both were dismissed while trying to sweep Axar Patel. The rest of the wickets seemed like a formality as despite some resistance from Daniel Lawrence who scored an impressive 50, England were bowled out for 135 inside 55 overs. The English batsman were completely bamboozled by the accuracy, guile and speed of the Indian spinners. The Ashwin-Axar axis each picked up a five-wicket haul in this innings. This was Axar’s fourth fifer in the series and Ashwin’s 30th overall in Test Match cricket which puts him 6th on the all-time list in Tests alongside Jimmy Anderson.

It was a series to forget for England where the victory in the first test is nothing more than a distant memory. Apart from Leach and Anderson, the England bowling-attack failed to offer Joe Root control with ball and their batters struggled in the tricky conditions against the quality of Ashwin and Axar.

For India, on the other hand, it was another stunning comeback after the defeat in the first Test in Chennai. This series victory helps them regain their place as the number one ranked Test side in the world and also seal their spot in the ICC World Test Championship Final against New Zealand in June,