RAJKOT : If you were driving through the Rajkot highway towards Jamnagar on Sunday afternoon, at some point you would have heard the chants “Bumrah…Bumrah…Bumrah” or at least the echoes of it. Unlike the first three days, the crowd attendance (23,679) at the Niranjan Shah Stadium was significantly higher. For starters, it was a holiday, and also, the match was poised in such a position that India might just take 2-1 lead. And that is exactly what happened. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a double century, and set a target of 557 and local lad Ravindra Jadeja took five to hand India a 434-run victory — the biggest run margin for an Indian Test win.
However, if you’d told anyone that this is how the match would unfold at the start of day three, not many would have bought into it. England were cruising at 207/2, India had lost their lead spinner in R Ashwin, who would return and take a wicket on Sunday, and Ben Duckett looked like he was running away with the game. From there, India induced a collapse to secure a 126-run lead, and then Jaiswal smashed a century to put the hosts on the front foot. Even with a 322-run deficit on Friday evening, England didn’t seem flustered. Duckett was confident that England would go for whatever target that’s put in front of them.
The thing, though, is that one cannot really read too much into that comment. Any team wouldn’t want to admit defeat or concede that they have no chance of coming back with two days left in the match. Even more so with this England, who seemed to be in a bubble of positive reaffirmation. So, if you ask any English cricketer at that point, they would have spoken the same way Duckett did. What they were not ready for was two young Indian batters tearing them apart. Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan put the foot on the accelerator and ensured there was no breathing space for England. For the visitors, with the massive target on one side, the pressure of batting through four sessions on a surface that was assisting spinners was another. And it was evident with the way Duckett and Zak Crawley started. There was a bit of tentativeness early on, and the left-hander was ran out by a brilliant effort from Mohammed Siraj and Dhruv Jurel. Bumrah then sent back Crawley, but once the spinners came on, there was little left to do for him and Siraj.
With no pressure of target, Rohit Sharma kept close-in, attacking fields as Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja bowled from either ends. If bowling on a day-four Indian pitch wasn’t enough, Jadeja had grown up on this ground. His record here is Bradmansque to say the least. He did what he always does best, kept running in and pitching the ball consistently in the right areas — here a tad fuller, ensuring that there was no room for sweeps. And yet, that is exactly what England batters did. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, adamant on sweeping, were eventually trapped on pads, Ollie Pope gave an edge to Rohit at slips and Ben Stokes was caught on the backfoot to Kuldeep.
All Ashwin had to do was clean up Tom Hartley, who was frustrating the hosts, and Jadeja did the rest taking the wickets of Ben Foakes and Mark Wood. Another fourth-inning fifer, a long list of them in this venue in first-class cricket, and a player of the match award. For India, it was a significant 2-1 lead and a win by the biggest run margin ever.
Rahul on track for Ranchi
KL Rahul missed the Vizag Test due to quadriceps injury and was not able to make it in time for Rajkot. However, after the third Test, captain Rohit Sharma affirmed that the senior batter “should be okay” for the fourth Test against England, scheduled to be played in Ranchi from February 23.
Scoreboard
India 1st Innings: 445
England 1st Innings: 319
India 2nd Innings: (O/196/2) Jaiswal not out 214, Sharma lbw b Root 19, Gill run out 91, Patidar c Ahmed b Hartley 0, Kuldeep c Root b Ahmed 27, Sarfaraz not out 68; Extras: (lb 9, w 2) 11; Total: (4 wickets in 98 ovs): 430 decl; FoW: 1-30, 1-185, 2-191 , 3-246, 4-258; Bowling: Anderson 13-1-78-0, Root 27-3-111-1, Hartley 23-2-78-1, Wood 10-0-46-0, Ahmed 25-1-108-1.
England 2nd Innings: Crawley lbw Bumrah 11, Duckett run out 4, Pope c Sharma b Jadeja 3, Root lbw Jadeja 7, Bairstow lbw Jadeja 4, Stokes lbw Kuldeep 15, Foakes c Jurel b Jadeja 16, Ahmed c Siraj b Kuldeep 0, Hartley b Ashwin 16, Wood c Jaiswal b Jadeja 33, Anderson not out 1; Extras: (b 5, lb 4, nb 3) 12, Total: (all out in 39.4 ovs) 122; FoW: 1-15, 2-18, 3-20, 4-28, 5-50, 6-50, 7-50, 8-82, 9-91; Bowling: Bumrah 8-1-18-1, Siraj 5-2-16-0, Jadeja 12.4-4-41-5, Kuldeep 8-2-19-2, Ashwin 6-3-19-1.